The Killer Queen
by HopelesslyDevotedToEmison
Summary: Although she ruled with an iron fist, what she needed was for someone to care for her on a level that the people of Rosewood never did. When Queen Alison of Rosewood decides to find herself a new assistant, she has no idea what she's getting herself into. (EMISON)
1. Introduction

She was the **Killer Queen.**

Her voice like **thunder**, her words cut like** knives**.

The whole kingdom wrapped around her **finger**.

As if they were all under her **spell,**

Hanging on to every **word,**

Every** syllable** that left her ruby red **lips.**

Enchanted by her **beauty**.

Blown away by her **power**.

Everyone stopped and listened,

as they worshiped,

**The Killer Queen.**

* * *

In **Rosewood Kingdom****, **Queen Alison of the DiLaurentis's was viewed by her people as a Goddess. It had always been this way, ever since she was born. Alison's beauty was seen even when she was a child, such beauty hadn't been seen of in centuries.

_At age four_, the people of Rosewood showered her with gifts, as well as people from other kingdoms. Far and wide, people would travel to see if they could catch a glimpse of Princess Alison, walking around in the courtyard closely followed by her nanny. Her parents, who were the ones who glorified Alison's beauty, spent most of their free time with her. This made Prince Jason DiLaurentis, the oldest son and heir to the throne, feel jealous. He wasn't getting nearly as half of the attention that Alison was getting.

_At age eleven_, Alison's true beauty began to shine forward. Different kingdoms had gifted her with many jewels and items of wealth as gifts to Rosewood. Some kingdoms such as The Kingdom of Ravenswood, was already trying to arrange marriages with Rosewood. Prince Noel Kahn of Ravenswood was the middle son and second heir to the throne of his kingdom. The king and queen had already sent gifts and invitations for treaties to try to arrange a marriage between them when they both turned eighteen. Prince Jason grew more and more jealous of his younger sister, he desperately needed attention and each time someone would send her a gift, he grew to loathe her even more.

_At age thirteen_, Alison was by far the most beautiful girl in the world, even though she was only just a teenager. People began to believe more so than before that she was a Goddess and shrines were beginning to be made in her honor. At age nineteen, Prince Jason DiLaurentis was charged for treason for the attempted murder of Alison DiLaurentis. He had loathed his sister so much that he had finally snapped. Taking a dagger, he walked into Princess Alison's room and attempted to stab her to death. Before he could do much damage, he was seized by Rosewood guards and taken to await his fate. There, King Kenneth of Rosewood charged Prince Jason with treason against The Kingdom of Rosewood for attempting to kill his sister. What made Prince Jason even more angry was the fact that his parents didn't even shed a tear or bat an eye when giving him his fate. Luckily for Princess Alison, the only mark she got was on her inner thigh, leaving a scar to this day that she kept hidden from everyone, in fear that they would realize that she wasn't a God after all.

When the day Prince Jason was to be executed in front of the whole kingdom, Princess Alison watched on with the King and Queen as her brother was taken to be beheaded in front of the whole kingdom. People say that she didn't even flinch as her brother's head was removed from his body. She kept a stone cold face the whole time. Others say they saw her smirk when her brother was beheaded, but that's just a myth. But what was a definite fact is something changed about Princess Alison. She wasn't the same smiling girl, instead whenever the people saw her they noticed that her facial expression, cold and now carrying the occasional smirk.

_At age seventeen, _a few days before Princess Alison's eighteenth birthday, her parents never came back from their trip to Ravenswood. Suspecting that the were dead, on top of a celebration for the Princess of Rosewood turning eighteen and coming of age, they were mourning the death of the beloved King and Queen. Also on that day, Alison took the throne, something many people were unsure she was ready for. The people who witnessed Alison's coronation swore that the whole time during the ceremony, a small smirk was playing on her ruby red lips.

The people who believed that Alison wouldn't be ready to have the title queen were quickly silenced. Alison soon enough began her reign as queen with an iron fist, making everyone shudder just by the sound of her voice. This brought Alison's nickname, The Killer Queen. People knew her as both names, Queen Alison of Rosewood, and the Killer Queen. Both were feared just as much as the other. Although the people of Rosewood and other kingdoms feared her now, they still adored her and continued to shower with gifts.

Everywhere people talked about the Killer Queen. She was a topic of gossip and an image of lust. People wanted to be her or people wanted to be with her.

_And now at age eighteen, _Queen Alison was looking for a new personal assistant, having no idea what she was about to get herself into.

* * *

It is better to be **feared** than **loved**, if you cannot be both.  
**- Niccolo Machiavelli**


	2. 1

"Your highness." a voice said from the tall and highly decorated entrance doors. Queen Alison turned her attention from looking out of the balcony doors that led to her beautiful kingdom, to the man that now was now walking along the red velvet carpet to Alison's throne, raised up on steps. He dropped to one knee when he reached the foot of the marble steps and bowed low to the queen.

Alison, who kept her signature powerful expressionless face, looked down at the man who although was much bigger than her, he feared her like everyone else. She shifted in her throne. It's tall back was layered in fine cushions, and the golden frame was decorated with jewels.

"Speak." she commanded. Her voice sounded like thunder and echoed in the throne room. The two masked and strong guards who were stationed at a respectable distance on either side of her, flinched.

"We found you a new personal assistant." the man said, straightening up.

Alison raised an eyebrow and straightened up even more in her high throne. She ran two fingers through a lock of her blonde hair and let it fall back to her shoulder. She adjusted her crown which was elegantly shaped. Gold and silver came together, to make a unique yet very pointy, crown that Alison always wore. She placed both arms on the armrests of her throne and looked down at the man again.

"Bring her in." Alison commanded again, waiting for her new personal assistant to be pulled in. The man nodded and quickly exited the throne room, returning shortly with a girl walking behind him. Alison's nose crinkled at the smell of sweat and dirt, obviously from the girl.

"Details." Ali said as the girl kept her hair low and covering her face.

"Her name is Emily Fields and she is eighteen... She was going to be married to a man named Ben Coogan. But since you wanted an assistant at any cost, we pulled her away from her dreary peasant life before she was married." the man said.

"Look up at me." Alison commanded to the girl. Emily looked up at Queen Alison's icy blue eyes, giving her a look as if she was reading Emily's life story. Alison had to admit that Emily was pretty even though she was covered in dirt. Once she got washed up, she could be beautiful. But for now her hair was tangled and she smelt bad and was filthy. No personal assistant of Alison's would serve her in that state.

"Take her to the baths and make her bathe. Get her some silk deep purple clothes, purple would suit her best. After that, have the prep team do something about her hair." Alison commanded. She then turned her stare to Emily. "What's wrong with you? Are you mute?"

"N-no." Emily stuttered.

"Good." Alison said. She looked from her new assistant to the man. "Are you taking her or are you just going to stand there?" she snapped, her voice rising.

The man jumped and once he regained his footing he grabbed Emily by the arm and pulled her out of the throne room. Alison scoffed once the doors closed, "Now it smells in here." she said, rolling her eyes and getting up from her throne. Her dress was covered by a maroon royal robe with white fur on the shoulders, which was clasped around her neck and it flowed to the ground as she walked out of the throne room. As she approached the door, the two masked guards stationed at the door, opened the tall double doors that lead to the long hallway in the castle.

Alison walked quickly towards her room, wanting to avoid her political assistant. She had no intention of hearing how her parents wrote in their will that she was to marry Prince Noel Kahn of Ravenswood, she wanted none of it. She had met Prince Noel before, at her fourteenth birthday. Prince Noel was cute enough, and nice enough, but he lacked something that Queen Alison had been searching for forever. Someone unique. All her life she had to deal with the same suitors. Princes with pretty faces and flashy teeth, some nicer than others, but all put up no fight if she showed some interest in them. Alison wanted someone who wouldn't just melt in her hand like putty, or dropped to kiss her feet whenever she looked at was very frustrating for her. There was no challenge, and Alison only wanted a challenge these days.

She made it successfully to her room and shut the doors behind her silently. Sighing, she turned on her heels and crossed her large room, noise from the kingdom below could be heard through her open windows, which also let a slight breeze and lots of sunlight in. Her large king sized bed had recently been made by one of the maids in the castle, but she kicks off her shoes and removes her robe anyway and jumps on the bed, scattering the pillows to the floor and spreading her arms out.

She closed her eyes for what seemed like five minutes, but it must've been longer because when she opened them, the brilliant blue sky was now pink and orange, signaling the setting sun. There was also a loud rapping noise on her bedroom door, and someone on the other side was saying. "Queen Alison, Queen Alison. Your dinner is going to get cold!" It was her political assistant and Alison was surprised that it as her rapping on her door.

"I'll be out in a minute!" Alison yelled, silencing the rapping that got annoying a little too fast. As Alison put back on her shoes, clasped her robe back around her neck again, fixed her hair, and placed her crown back on her head, she wondered if people could hear her when she yelled since the windows were open. There wasn't as much noise coming from the kingdom below, probably because it was getting later.

She swung open the doors to her bedroom and walked out, heading towards the dining hall where she was most definitely going to be hounded with tomorrow's schedule and more gifts from Ravenswood telling her that she was going to have to marry Noel if she liked it or not since her parents signed off on it. She honestly wanted no part of Ravenswood and their stupid prince Noel and his flashy smile and blue eyes. She would much rather be alone than have his children because it would probably be miserable.

When she arrived in the dining hall, she internally sighed as her annoying political assistant watched her approach her seat and sit down. She lifted the lid to her plate to reveal a chicken breast with steamed peas and mashed potatoes. She picked up her fork and knife and began cutting, tuning out when her assistant began telling her about recent events in other kingdoms. The same man from earlier entered the dining hall when Queen Alison was halfway done, making her stop eating and turn her attention to him. He did the same bow as before, dropping to his knees and staring at the ground before scrambling to his feet again.

"Speak." Alison commanded, before taking a mouthful of peas.

"Sh-...she's ready." the man almost whispered. Alison was confused for a second, raising her eyebrow and chewing slowly while staring at the man.

She swallowed and took a sip of her wine, "Send her in." she commanded.

A few seconds later, the man returned flagged closely behind by her new personal assistant dressed in dark purple. Alison's mouth twitched as she realized how right she was about the color choice. Her new assistant stopped in front of Ali, her face straight but this time she wasn't trying to hide her face from Ali. "I told you she would look good in purple." Alison said. No one in the room seemed to know who she was talking to, but they didn't question it. Alison continued to observe her beautiful new assistant, staring at her because she had never seen someone as beautiful as herself. "You can start now." she commanded.

The man jerked his head at the spot next to Alison's chair, silently telling the girl to go and stand next to her. The girl tentatively walked up the steps and positioned herself on Ali's other side, her political assistant on her right eyed Emily.

"I don't bite." Alison said, making the girl jump. She was standing a good three feet away from Ali. Alison laughed at her new assistant's reaction. She was very tense.

"Anyway...back to more important matters." her political assistant said. "It seems that tomorrow, Prince Noel Kahn of Ravenswood will be paying a visit here for a week, so that you can get to know each other."

"What for?" Alison asked, almost spitting her drink across the table.

"Well for your marriage, of course."

"I told you, _we are not getting married._" Alison said, slamming a fist on the table, causing the table to shake and the plates to rattle.

"It's not exactly your decision, your highness. It is your parents dying wish. I'm afraid there's nothing you can do about it. Prince Noel Kahn will be arriving tomorrow and you are to spend time and get to know him. That is what is going to happen."

Infuriated by the news, Alison rose to her feet and made her way to towards the exit to the dining hall. She quickly snapped at her new personal assistant to follow, and nodded at the guards, giving them their cue. The guards began moving to her political assistant and seized her by the arms. "What's going on?" she yelled, as the guards carried her away. Alison watched as they carried her...old political assistant out of the dining hall and away from sight. Alison smirked as she watched the scene unfold, and when she was satisfied with the output, she headed towards her room with her assistant close behind her.

* * *

"Rule one of being my personal assistant. You must always address me as Queen Alison, your majesty, your highness, or anything along the lines of that." Alison said, lecturing her new assistant who sat in the middle of the her room awkwardly. "Your job is to help me with my daily activities, but not to intervene or give me advice like I ask you."

There was a knock on her door, stopping Alison's speech. "What is it?" Alison called out.

Entering was the same man from before, who was looking very awkward standing in the Queen's bedroom. "Your highness...you can't just keep sending your assistants to be executed when they get mad at you." he said. Alison noticed how much he was sweating and it wasn't even a hot night.

"That's where she was going? To be _executed?_" her assistant said.

Alison turned to her, "What? Don't act like you haven't seen an execution before. You saw my brother's. That's why they call me Killer Queen, didn't you know?"

"Yeah but I wasn't at risk of my own life! Now there's a possibility that I may be executed too." Emily said, beginning to panic.

"You won't be executed if you keep quiet and do as you're told." Alison said, getting annoyed with her new assistant. Each word that came out of her mouth was like dripping venom.

Emily gulped and didn't speak again. Alison, pleased with herself, turned back to the man, "I'll give this one a chance, but I'm not making any promises with the next political assistant that you bring me. You know how I hate hearing about Prince Noel, does he have to come?"

"I'm afraid so. Ten tomorrow morning."

"I hope he gets in a shipwreck on the way here." Alison muttered, rubbing her temples. The man, having nothing else to say, left the queen and her assistant alone.

After Alison gave her assistant the run through of the rules, she began to get extremely tired and decided to go to bed. "Emily, was it? Help me get undressed." Alison commanded. Emily walked over to Alison as she stood up, letting Emily take the crown off her head and put it in the case. She removed Alison's robe and placed it on a hanger, and helped untie her corset. When the corset was untied, Alison gasped for breath, the corset made it extremely hard for her to breathe. "That's much better." she commented.

As she was being undressed, Alison noticed the fumbling or her assistant's fingers as if they were shaking. Confused, but said nothing, Alison waited for Emily to help her out of her corset and into pajamas. Alison never felt uncomfortable about her body around anyone before, but for one fleeting second she wondered what Emily would think of her when she saw her with barely any clothes on. The feeling disappeared quickly and was replaced by the feeling of confidence, why should she be ashamed of her body? Queen Alison is utterly flawless.

She smirked to herself at the sound of Queen Alison. The sound never got old. The Killer Queen sounded even better to her, it made her seem so much more prestigious and feared. The name brought intimidation, enough to make you shake. But right now, the only thing The Killer Queen wanted was to go to bed and sleep. But at the same time she wanted to stay up because the sooner she went to sleep the sooner Prince Noel would come and she did not want that.

Alison pushed back the covers and climbed under them, but propped herself up with pillows. "Brush my hair for me." Alison said, not even glancing at Emily while she pulled a book out from under her pillow. Emily found a hair brush and began gently brushing out Alison's golden blonde hair. The curls flowed through Emily's hands and were smoothed out by the brush. It felt good on Alison's head, and she finally flipped open to the chapter she was on in her book.

"Have you read this?" Alison asked curiously. She pulled her head away from Emily's hand and the hairbrush and turned around. She was surprised to see Emily's cheeks red and she looked embarrassed. Confused at first, Alison wondered why she wasn't answering the question when she realized. "You can't read can you."

Emily shook her head in response and resumed brushing Alison's hair. "Do you even know how to write your own name?" Alison asked, bewildered. She had never met someone who couldn't even write their own name. It was a must.

"No." Emily said and Alison could hear the embarrassment in her voice. There was a twinge of pity that flashed through Alison before it quickly disappeared.

"Tell you what. Tomorrow, I'll teach you how to write your name. It's a start, but it will be a good start." Alison concluded. She looked down at her book while Emily quietly brushed her hair. "Do you want me to read you some?"

"Yes, your majesty." Emily said, moving so that she could get the other side of Alison's head. It sounded funny when Emily said your majesty, it just didn't sound right to Alison.

Alison shrugged it off, figuring it was because she was new and began to read from, The Prince by Niccolo Machiavelli. As Alison read, she could tell Emily was paying close attention because in the reflection from the mirror, she could see that chewed on her bottom lip every once in a while. When Alison's hair was brushed out, Alison didn't want to stop reading to Emily so Alison made Emily give her a back massage.

"The lion cannot protect himself from traps, and the fox cannot defend himself from wolves. One must therefore be a fox to recognize traps, and a lion to frighten wolves." Alison concluded, after receiving a really deep tissue massage. She closed the book and set it down on her bedside table, yawning and rubbing her eyes. Emily tucked Alison in and turned down the light until it Alison's room filled with darkness.

"Do you know where your room is?" Alison asked sleepily.

"Yes, your highness. I was shown to it earlier." Emily said, straightening up and walking towards Alison's doors.

Alison heard the creak of her door opening, causing her to sit up abruptly.

"Emily?" Alison called.

"Yes, your highness?" Emily asked.

"Nothing I just wanted to say good night." Alison said, laying down again.

"Good night, your majesty."


	3. 2

The following morning, Queen Alison awoke to bright sunlight shining on her face and the sound of birds chirping. Disoriented and wondering what was going on, she reached over to her bedside table and pulled a lever. After doing so, she sighed and laid spread-eagle in her bed. There was a small knock on her door and her personal assistant walked in carrying a silver tray with her breakfast on it. Happy at the sight of her breakfast and new personal assistant, Alison sat back up in bed as Emily placed the tray in front of her.

"Good morning, my queen." Emily said, removing the cloche cover, which kept the food warm. Her breakfast today was eggs Benedict with fresh raspberries and orange juice. Alison began eating while Emily removed the scroll of parchment that was tucked under her arm and opened it.

"You look nice today." Alison said, noticing that her assistant once again looked almost as beautiful as she. Her dark brown hair fell just right and her clean tan skin rivaled Alison's paler skin. For once in Alison's life she actually felt threatened, wondering if other's would notice her assistants beauty and brand her as the most beautiful in the land. As she continued to take in everything about her personal assistant, she was snapped back to reality as her assistant began telling her her schedule that she must've memorized.

"In one hour, Prince Noel Kahn of Ravenswood will be arriving at the docks. He will be staying in one of the bed chambers on the floor below. You are to be friendly and spend time with him during his stay this week." Emily said. Alison rolled her eyes, remembering that Noel was coming. "The horse stables are open at eleven, so that you and Prince Noel can ride horses around the woods and fields. The chef is making lunch for you both a picnic lunch that you can eat on top of the hill. After that, you don't have to see him until dinner."

Alison sighed and looked out her window towards the docks. Noel's arrival was not going to be a happy one, and she swore to herself that she wasn't going to be very nice to him. She turned back to her assistant and pointed to her. "Get this off of me and then come help me take bathe." she commanded, realizing that there was no way out of this. Her assistant quickly removed the tray from Alison's lap and helped her stand up, Alison quickly crossed the room and entered her bathroom.

In the bathroom, Emily removed Alison's clothes and helped her into the tub. She washed Alison's hair with skilled hands that made Alison feel like she was getting a massage too. When Emily rinsed out her hair, Alison felt as if she was in pure bliss. Her old assistant never thoroughly bathed her like this. She studied Emily's face as she washed her body, noticing how Emily chewed her bottom lip as she scrubbed Alison clean. Alison found herself watching her assistant a lot more than she did with the previous ones, this one seemed different. Even though she didn't volunteer to take this job willingly. When Emily brushed out her hair again while Alison was putting on her signature red lipstick, she almost messed up because she couldn't take her eyes off her assistant in the reflection of the mirror.

"I'm sorry if I mess this up I've never done this before." Emily said quietly when it was time for her to tie up Alison's corset. Alison sucked in as Emily tied it up, feeling the tightness wrap itself around her, a feeling she had gotten used to. She almost envied Emily for never having to wear a corset before, she had obviously never felt the feeling of being short of breath just so she could look thinner than she already was. As Alison was helped into her powder blue dress and velvet light blue robe which fastened under her chin. Emily braided her hair and placed her pointy crown on top of her head with such ease that Alison didn't realize that the crown was on her head until Emily stepped back.

"I think you're all ready." Emily said, looking at Alison.

"Time?" Alison asked, admiring herself in her mirror.

"Fifteen minutes to ten, my queen." Emily said. "Your carriage is waiting for you out front to meet Prince Noel at the docks."

Alison nodded and exited her room, snapping for Emily to follow. She walked down the hall, preparing herself to keep the expression that she had practiced for so long. She passed people who worked in the castle, all bowing or curtseying as she passed. Her thundering footsteps could be heard from all around the castle. Arriving outside, there was a white carriage with two white horses attached to it, stomping their feet and shaking their heads. Four Rosewood guards were stationed at each wheel with weapons in their hands.

Alison stopped, waiting for Emily to open the carriage door for her. Emily didn't seem to know that she was supposed to do so until Alison cleared her throat and motioned for her to open it. Stammering her apologies, Emily rushed forward and opened the door for Alison and held out a hand to help her in. "I'll be back by eleven no doubt. Go tell the head of the stables that I would like my horse Emison ready to go by the time I get back. Also have him get Spoby ready as well, Noel can ride him."

"Right away, your highness." Emily bowed. Alison watched as Emily turned and walked back up the steps to the castle and inside. As her carriage pulled away, she couldn't help but wonder about what life was like for Emily before she began Alison's personal assistant.

As the carriage made it's way through town, the people of the town stopped and stared open mouthed as they caught sight of their queen. Some people tried to approach the carriage, only to be pushed away by one of the guards that was walking alongside of the carriage. Alison kept a straight faced as she passed her people. Some looked wealthy with robes of fine material and bright colors. Other looked like Emily did, faces covered in dirt and clothes worn out. Emily obviously had come from the lower class of people, it was probably a good thing that Alison had pulled her from her pathetic state.

She noticed one man watching her, not staring open mouthed at her, but instead almost glaring. He had curly brown hair and had darker skin like Emily's. He was pretty cute, but he glared at Alison with such hatred she hadn't seen since her brother was alive. This must've been Ben Coogan, the man Emily was supposed to marry before she became her assistant. She smirked at him when she realized that the reason he was glaring at her was because she took Emily from him. Once Ben went out of sight, Alison turned to face forward, wondering if Ben treated Emily like how she deserved to be treated.

She couldn't think about this much, since they arrived at the docks minutes later. A guard opened the carriage door for her and helped her out, two more followed her as she walked down the dock towards the docked ship with the Ravenswood flag. She waited as the ship let out a ladder and a man stepped down, his back towards her.

"Prince Noel." Alison said, but it sounded like a statement.

Prince Noel turned around, flashing a smile that made Alison almost cringe. "Queen Alison." Prince Noel said, approaching her. He was wearing navy blue and his crown was nothing compared to the one Alison was wearing. He was a lot taller than here, and was probably the most attractive prince in about fifty miles. His icy blue eyes crinkled when he smiled and he had perfect teeth. Alison heard about how he had many suitors as well, and wondered why he spent so much time trying to get Alison to be his wife when there were other girls that were fawning over him the same way he was fawning over Alison.

Prince Noel reached out and took Alison's hand, he bowed his head and kissed her hand. Alison let him kiss her hand, but the feeling of his lips felt like he was burning a hole into it. She drew her hand back, the wet feeling still there and this time she actually did cringe. Luckily it went unnoticed by Noel, who was looking past her at her kingdom. "Just like I remembered it." Noel smiled, he held out his arm for Alison to wrap around while they walked to the carriage.

By now, quite a few people from the kingdom were gathering around, watching the pair as they walked back to the carriage. Some shouted Alison's name, others talked quickly to the people around them. Alison paid them no mind, she was focused on other things, like on her breathing. Prince Noel helped Alison into the carriage and got in himself, sitting down across from Alison.

When the carriage began moving again, Alison looked out the window, but she could feel Noel's eyes on her. She turned away from the window and looked at Noel, who was indeed staring at her, and smiling. "You've gotten more beautiful since the last time I saw you." Noel said. Alison wanted to roll her eyes right there, but she refrained.

"You've gotten...taller." Alison said, unable to think of anything nice to compliment him with.

"I've grown an inch since your eighteenth birthday and coronation." Prince Noel said, sitting up straighter.

Alison nodded her head, pretending to be interested in what he was saying, but found it very hard. She tried to answer his questions with her best effort, but Noel still was very bad at engaging in a conversation with her. He occasionally stuttered and when his face would go red, he would compliment her on her beauty and then brag about himself. It was classic Noel, still the same one she met when she was seven.

When they arrived back at the castle, Emily was standing out front, holding her hands and ready to let them out once the carriage stopped. She walked up to the carriage and opened the door for them. "Welcome Prince Noel. Welcome back Queen Alison." Emily said, smiling at them as they exited. Alison nodded at Emily as she passed.

"Emison and Spoby are in the stables and are ready to be ridden whenever you would like." Emily said, as she followed them up to the castle entrance.

"I think we are going to go soon, I just need to change into something more appropriate for riding. Come with me." she commanded to Emily. Before they turned towards her room, Alison found the man that brought Emily to her yesterday. "You," she said, causing the man to stop. "Take Prince Noel to his bedroom chamber, his carriage with his luggage should be here soon. When it arrives, take it down to his chamber. When he finds himself comfortable, have him wait in the parlor, get him anything he wishes. I will be down shortly."

The man nodded frantically and bowed to Prince Noel, "Right this way, Prince Noel." he said. Noel glanced at Alison before following the man towards the stairs.

"Come help me change, Emily." Alison said, walking towards the next flight of steps that would lead them to her room.

Alison once again studied Emily as Emily helped take off her crown and dress, and into her riding dress. This time she noticed that Emily's deep chocolate brown eyes had a kindness to them. There was almost a glimmer in her eyes that seemed to radiate warmth and comfort. She compared Emily's eyes to her own icy blue. Her icy blue eyes were very beautiful there was no doubt about that, but she didn't see any signs of a glimmer or warmth that Emily's had. All she saw was coldness in the sea of blue. Alison made a mental note to herself to ask Emily about her life before, wondering how she got the glimmer in her eyes. There had to be something.

When Emily was done, she escorted Alison to the parlor to get Noel and then out to the stables. Two beautiful horses, saddled up and were ready, waiting for Noel and Alison. Alison's white horse, Emison stomped the ground when he noticed Alison step towards him. Alison held out her hand and stroked the beautiful horses' nose and it let out a sharp breath. For some reason, she wondered if she felt cold to everyone that she touched. She shook this feeling off, realizing how crazy the thought was and looked at Noel. Noel was admiring Spoby, a chestnut horse that was a few years younger than Alison's.

Alison turned her attention from Noel to Emily and noticed how uncomfortable she looked in the situation. "What is it?" Alison asked, her voice booming. She probably asked Emily with too harsh of a voice, and regretted doing so even though she often spoke with this tone.

"Nothing." Emily said simply. This response did not go too well with Alison.

"When I ask you a question, I want an answer. Now I'll ask again, what is it?" Alison said through gritted teeth.

"I'm just...not a big fan of horses." Emily said quietly.

Alison laughed, it sounded mocking and cruel, it caused the horses in the stables around her to neigh uncomfortably. Even her own horse began moving around uncomfortably. "You're a peasant who probably worked with horses, how is it that you are afraid of them?" she asked.

"Not everyone who is what you call a peasant worked with animals. I worked at the bakery with my mother." Emily said. "For a queen who is loved and feared by everyone, you don't know anything about the people who adore you."

Alison raised an eyebrow and Emily opened her mouth, bewildered that she just talked back to the Killer Queen. Normally, Alison would be calling her guards to carry Emily away and have her publicly hanged, but she didn't say anything. In fact, what Emily said had stung Alison. Alison thought she knew everything about her people, hearing about their gossip and secrets is what entertained her. But now she was realizing what she didn't know about her people, that not everyone who was poor worked in the stables or out in the field. She had no idea that her kingdom, even had a bakery, all her bread came from the chef in her castle.

Realizing that she had to say something to Emily, she opened her mouth to speak. "Go back to the kitchen and have the chef prepare something for us by the time we get back. We'll be back no later than one, and I suggest that you straighten your attitude by the time I get back as well." Alison commanded.

"Yes, your majesty. Of course." Emily said, bowing her head and quickly hurrying towards the kitchens.

Alison turned to Noel, who was watching what just happened confused. "I'm surprised you didn't order her to be executed right then and there." he said, still watching Alison as she drew her red hood over her head and mounted her horse.

"I was told that I can't just execute my assistants whenever they cross me, we're running out of assistants for me." Alison told Noel, but mainly she was telling herself this. She convinced herself that that was the reason she didn't order Emily to be beheaded, not because her assistant was growing on her. After all it had only been a day.

"I would have at least given her punishment though. Hang her by her feet overnight." Noel said, shrugging.

"Excuse me, are you telling me how to run my kingdom? Is that what I'm hearing?" Alison asked, looking down at Noel, who still had not mounted his own horse.

"No, I-"

"That's what I thought. Now are you coming or aren't you." Alison said, as her horse began to walk towards the exit of the stable.

She heard Noel behind her quickly get on his saddle and make a noise for the horse to begin walking. Spoby quickly caught up with Emison and they exited the stable together and headed towards the grassy slope at a canter.

When Noel and Alison got back, their lunch was ready just like she had ordered. Her ride with Noel was as dreadful as she had thought. Noel often tried to show off his skills but failed miserably at impressing Alison. It was pathetic. The time seemed to be going by twice as slow and she was more than grateful when it was time to go back. During their ride, she thought about what had happened previously, and wondered even more so than before what Emily's life was like.

She didn't feel bad about what had happened, Queen Alison had no regrets. She wasn't going to apologize to Emily either, that was for weak people. But she instead made it a priority to learn more about Emily's like and hear about this Benjamin Coogan that was supposed to be her husband. From what Alison saw, she concluded that Ben would've not been good enough for her, and she was very glad that she pulled Emily away when she did.

Emily was waiting in the dining hall, standing beside Alison's chair. There was a table for two, two chairs facing one another with food on the table. There was bread and steamed vegetables like broccoli. Sun dried tomatoes and basil was on their plates, as well as chicken. Two goblets filled with white wine were at both place settings, looking almost too perfect.

Noel pulled out Alison's chair for her and helped her sit down before taking a seat at his own spot. He cleared his throat and looked at Emily. Emily and Alison both looked confused as Noel pointed to his plate. "Aren't you going to taste it?" Noel asked, looking at Emily as if she had two heads.

"Wh-what?" Emily asked confused.

Noel looked from Emily to Alison, "Does she not taste the food before you eat it?"

"No why would she?" Alison asked, raising an eyebrow.

"In case someone is trying to poison us." Noel said. "You never made her do that?"

"The chef has been in my family since my parents reigned. I don't think that he is going to try and poison us."

"I'm not just talking about the chef...the person handling the food could've done something to it too." Noel said, his eyes shifting to Emily.

"You think she poisoned our food?" Alison asked, her blood beginning to boil as her voice began rising.

"You said she's new. How can you trust her? She could've been paid to poison either one of us." Noel said casually. Emily looked at Noel in complete shock, almost traumatized by the fact that Noel was accusing her of something.

"I-I would never poison my queen." she choked out.

"She has guilty written all over her face!" Noel said, pointing a finger at Emily.

"If she was looking to poison me she would've done it already. She already has had opportunities to do so!" Alison said, her voice booming in the hall, but Noel didn't yield.

"Make her taste it." he said sternly.

"Excuse me, I'm the queen around here and what I say goes." Alison said, feeling the heat rise in her cheeks.

"You may be now, but we are going to be married soon. Meaning I will become king of Rosewood, so soon what I say will go." Noel said.

That was it for Alison, she stood up and stormed out of the dining hall, her face red and blood boiling. She couldn't order Noel to be executed, he was royalty not a common folk. So the only thing Alison could do was storm up to her bedroom with Emily following close behind. She entered her room and locked her door once Emily followed in after her.

"That scumbag." Alison yelled, pacing her room angrily. She never got this mad at anyone.

"Queen Alison, I don't blame Prince Noel for thinking I would poison you. He is right, I am new." Emily said, trying to calm down Alison.

"I may have to marry this fool and even if he does become king, I will make his life a living hell. He will be nothing when I am done with him." her voice like venom. "No one accuses my assistants or questions my authority like that."

"He had only good intentions."

"Maybe he did. But there will be hell to pay, and pay it, he will."


	4. 3

"Like this?"

"No it's not curved lines. Nice in straight. Here try again."

"What about now?"

"That's better. Try once more."

After Alison had calmed down, she decided to teach Emily how to write her own name. It was difficult at first, but Emily quickly caught on. Alison, deciding not to teach her complicated cursive, wrote a simple capital "E" on the parchment with a quill. She handed Emily the quill and told her to copy it, watching on as Emily tried to copy it.

When she finally got it, Ali wrote a lower case "m" on the parchment, then handed the quill back to Emily. She couldn't bring her eyes off of Emily, who was sitting rather close to her, but she didn't mind. She liked observing Emily as she chewed her bottom lip in concentration while she tried to write her name. She couldn't tear her eyes away until Emily looked up at her.

"Did I do it?" Emily asked. Alison, finally able to look away, turned her attention down to the parchment between them. Next to Alison's "m" was an equally perfect "m".

"Yes. That was really good." Alison said, impressed by Emily's success. They continued doing this, until they made it to "y".

"So who's this Ben Coogan?" Alison asked curiously, glancing at Emily out of the corner of her eye.

"Oh Ben? He was just my fiancé. Nothing special." Emily said casually.

"How is that no big deal? You were going to be married to him and have his children. That's a pretty big deal." Alison said, shocked by Emily's casual response.

"Well yeah but I never really knew Ben before we were engaged and even when I got to know him, I didn't really like him like a wife would love a husband. But I just accepted the fact I was going to have to learn to love him and have his children." Emily explained. "Is this good?"

She pointed to the "y" on the parchment. Alison, thinking over what Emily said, instructed her to write the full name on the parchment. "I really don't want to get married to Noel." Alison said simply, absentmindedly playing at her own hair.

"Then find a way not to." Emily said casually.

"I don't think I can. I guess I'm going to have to do what you did and learn to accept it. But thinking about having his children sickens me." Alison said, shuddering at the thought.

"At least they'll be beautiful children." Emily said. Alison's eyes shot from the parchment to Emily. Did she just indirectly call her beautiful?

Emily looked as if nothing had happened, she was still staring at the parchment in deep concentration. For once in her life, The Killer Queen felt heat rise to her cheeks as Emily's indirect comment affected her more than any of her suitors straight forward ones. Alison knew she was beautiful, she knew others thought she was beautiful, but someone about knowing that Emily thought that she was beautiful made her almost want to smile. Almost.

"I think I did it. Does this look right?" Emily asked. Alison looked back down at Emily's full name written down on the parchment. It was good for a first time, but Alison could see some slight mistakes. Like how her "y" sort of looked like an "x". Normally Alison would've been quick to tell someone how stupid and worthless they were, but she couldn't bring herself to do it with Emily.

"It's a good start." Alison said, noticing a new kindness to her voice that confused even her. "I think that's enough for today, though." She closed the ink bottle and brought the parchment over to the window to be dried. Once that was done, she turned back around to see Emily watching her and Alison saw the warmth and comfort in her chocolate brown eyes.

Alison sat back down on her bed and put her hands in her lap. "Come and sit." she ordered, patting the space next to her. Emily rose to her feet and made her way to Alison's bed, sitting down at the very edge.

"I don't bite." Alison said, patting the space next to her a little harder. Emily scooted closer and closer to where Alison wanted her to be and when she finally made it, Alison looked at her curiously.

"Tell me your life story, Emily." Alison said, her hands going to Emily's hand, making Emily's head facing away from her. "I've always wanted to braid someone else's hair." she added, when she caught sight of Emily's confused look in the mirror.

Alison began braiding Emily's hair, wanting to hear every detail of Emily's life. Emily told her about how she was born in November and that she was an only child. Her mother was a baker and she began working with her when her father never came back from The Battle of Rosewood. Ben Coogan's father was apparently the butcher and they set up an arranged marriage because Ben was smitten for Emily and Emily's mom wanted to make sure her daughter never starved. In fact, Emily and Ben were supposed to get married next week, and when she learned she was coming to serve Alison, Ben was crushed.

Alison probably should've felt sorry for Ben, but she didn't. But she could relate, she probably would be beyond angry if Emily left her. As she listened to Emily, she became more and more intrigued by her life story. Sure, she knew many secrets, but hearing something from someone that wasn't in secret form was nice. Emily, although she didn't have the best life, obviously had a mother who was looking out for her, that's why she set up her marring Ben, because he would always be able to provide food. What were her parents' reasons for having her marrying Noel? To keep the alliance between Ravenswood and Rosewood strong. That way there would be no wars against one another since both were very powerful kingdoms.

"Your mother seems so nice." Alison said absent-mindedly, as she finished braiding Emily's hair.

"Yeah we were really close..."

As if she was knocked in the chest, something powerful washed over her. It infested her body, causing her to almost profusely apologize to Emily. Alison never felt guilt for another person, like she was experiencing now. She wanted to cry, she felt horrible now for ripping Emily away from her mother, who now had no one.

"Your highness?" Emily asked, snapping her fingers.

"Oh, I'm sorry I was just..." Alison tried to find the right words as Emily waited for a response. "I want to see Rosewood's kingdom. It's people. I want to see what life was like for you." Emily looked shocked at Alison's sudden request. Never did she ever think a princess would want to go and associate with the common folk.

"I don't think that's a good idea, my queen. People will recognize you." Emily said tentatively.

"That's why we disguise me and give me a fake name." Alison said casually. "We can change my hair color by putting a wig on, put dirt on my face, give me different clothes. It will be great."

"And your name?"

"We'll think of something. We will leave tomorrow at 12pm sharp, make sure I'm doing nothing with Noel that afternoon." Alison commanded, excited with her own plan.

"I will, your majesty." Emily said, bowing.

Alison smirked, thinking about how good her plan was.

* * *

"Our wedding will be in three months." Noel said, breaking the silence of dinner. They hadn't spoken to each other the whole time, the only sound being heard was the clinking of plates and utensils.

Alison looked up from her plate to meet Noel's eyes. He was staring at her, chewing his food, like a freak no less. When Alison didn't answer, he rolled his eyes, "Look I'm sorry about before. I don't know why I did that."

Alison nodded and finished her soup, "I'm not enthused by this marriage thing, but just so you know, I will never love you like you want me to. And I may have your children, but our intimate times will have none of the emotion that you will have."

Noel snorted and took a spoonful of his soup to hide his laughter, "I didn't expect you to."

"Oh really?" Alison asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Yeah. Everyone knows you're incapable of loving someone." Noel said.

Alison wanted to slap him, and she almost did. No one had ever told her she was incapable of showing affection of loving someone, much less told her A LOT of people thought that. She could feel her outraged expression begin to surface on her face and her eyes shot to Emily, who had been standing silently next to her the whole time. Emily looked indifferent as if she agreed with Noel. She stood up, and did something just as satisfying as slapping Noel across the face. She picked up her wine goblet and threw the contents of it into his face. The red liquid got all over his clothes, definitely making stains that wouldn't come out.

"What the fuck are you thinking?!" Noel yelled, standing up and flicking the red droplets off of him on his fingers. Alison smirked as she watched him, royalty never swore. It was a sign of being a common folk and was majorly frowned upon.

"Watch your mouth Prince Noel. You don't want the people to hear their future king's dirty mouth." Alison said smirking.

Noel glared at her as Alison turned and strutted out of the dining hall, knowing that Emily was following not too far behind. The Killer Queen smirked the whole way to her room, going over the event in her head.

* * *

"Do you really think this is a good idea, Queen Alison?" Emily asked, fitting the dark brown wig over Alison's head.

"Of course." Alison said, removing the lipstick and makeup from her face. "The people of Rosewood only have seen me with red lipstick and blonde hair. With this brown wig and dirt on my face, people won't be able to recognize me."

Emily shrugged, it seemed logical enough. She finished fitting the wig on Alison's head and helped her into her dirty common folk clothes. She watched Alison as she cringed from the presence of dirty clothes on her body. "That's going to take some getting used to." she mumbled, as Emily tied the dress in the back.

"I don't think that's what you're going to have to worry about," Emily said, holding up a bowl full of mud. "I'm going to have to put this on your face."

Alison groaned but nodded for Emily to begin. She cringed even more as the feeling of wet dirt on her face and skin. But she convinced herself to ignore the sensation, after all it was her idea. When Emily finished, she put dirt on her own face and arms, looking like the same girl that first came to her a few days ago. Her dirty clothes clung to her body, finding Alison staring at her again.

"See how you look." Emily said, motioning to the mirror. Alison walked over to the mirror and looked at her reflection of both she and Emily. Alison was surprised at her appearance. She could only barely recognize herself through the drying dirt and brown wig.

"Say hello to Vivan Darkbloom." Alison said simply.

"Where did you get that name?" Emily asked.

"I just spent a lot of time thinking." Alison said, turning towards the door to her bedroom, pulling up her hood to hide her face. "Come on, let's go before anyone notices."

When they appeared on the street, no one even glanced at Alison as they made their way through the crowd. Everyone was busy buying and trading things, the others that were whispering in huddled circles were talking about Queen Alison's recent engagement to Prince Noel of Ravenswood.

"What would you like to do?" Emily asked, watching Alison as she looked at all the shops set up. Alison's eyes darted from one to another, locking on one with glass things sitting on a table. An elderly woman was sitting behind the table, watching people as they passed by. Alison approached the table and stared at the glass ball filled with what looked like water and a clay figure of her castle.

"What's this?" she asked, trying to not sound so commanding and cruel.

"A snow globe, dear." the woman said, her fragile hand reaching out and to pick it up. She held it securely in her hands before she shook it, causing bits of white to swirl around inside like snow. Transfixed at the hand painted design that was holding the snow globe, Alison reached out and took the snow globe from the elderly woman.

"How much?" she asked.

"Oh honey, it's a fair amount. One of the last that I hand made, I don't have the energy to make them anymore. Usually the higher class buys my snow globes." The woman said.

"How much?" Alison asked again, a little more forcefully this time. Emily cleared her throat uncomfortably next to her, but Alison paid no attention.

"130 gold." The woman sighed.

Alison reached into her pocket and pulled out a leather pouch, filled with gold. She pulled out the correct amount and set it on the table. The woman stared wide eyed at Alison as she took the snow globe from her and stored it in her satchel that she had slung over her arm.

"Th-thank you." the woman said, still staring at Alison. "You remind me of someone, someone very beautiful. You have a slight resemblance to the queen did you know?"

"People have told me that before yes, but I can assure you that I am not her. My name is Vivian Darkbloom." Alison said, closing her bag and nodding at the woman.

"Well Vivan, don't let people confuse you as the queen."

"I won't. Thank you." Alison said, for probably the first time in ten years. The words sounded foreign as she spoke them, causing her to frown. Before the woman could see her, she turned and walked away with Emily close behind.

"That was close." Emily whispered as they navigated themselves through the people.

"Can we go see your mother?" Alison asked.

"I don't know... She's kind of a far ways out away from the crowd. A little ways into the woods, do you think you can walk that far?"

"I may be taken everywhere by a horse, but I can walk long distances. Don't be fooled." Alison said, as she followed Emily towards a pathway with a sign that said "Field's Bakery."

They walked down the long path, the sound of the town square fading away and instead replaced by the chirping of the birds. The closer they walked down the path, the more the overwhelming aroma of baking bread filled their noses. The shack finally came into view, the chimney spewing out smoke and it looked warm and inviting. When they reached the door, Emily took a deep breath as she reached for the doorknob of the shack. She turned it and opened the door.

They both entered the warm shack which made Alison sigh as the wonderful smell of bread filled her nose even more. She looked around the empty shack, someone had been there recently, and she tried to peak around to the back door which she could hear voices coming from.

There were footsteps from the back room and someone came out into the room that Alison and Emily were standing in. But it wasn't Emily's mom, it was a man. Alison almost groaned when she realized who it was, the curly brown hair still could be seen even though he had some signs of white flour in it. His eyes flickered first from Alison, who he obviously didn't recognize, to Emily, his face lighting up.

"Emily! You're back!" he said, almost jumping. He ran out from behind the counter and ran over to Emily, grabbing her by her waist and arm, pulling her in for a searing kiss.


	5. 4

Alison, quickly turned away from the sight, unable to watch as Ben kissed Emily. Anger shot through her body, furious at Ben for doing such a thing. She wanted to have him beheaded, she had a right to. He was poor common folk, but she also knew Emily would never forgive her if she did.

"Alright that's enough." Alison said, her voice almost causing the shack to shake. She turned back to see a smiling Ben, unable to take his eyes off of Emily, much like how Alison was unable to take her eyes off her. Emily was looking at the ground, smiling slightly, her face red.

"H-how?" Ben began to question, looking at Emily in disbelief. "How did you escape the queen?"

"I didn't." Emily said. "I'm still under her service."

"Than how did the cold hearted Queen Alison allow you to leave the castle to come visit me?" Ben asked, stroking Emily's cheek to check if she was real.

"She didn't." Alison snapped, causing Ben's hand to jump back from Emily's face. "She came to see her mother, you just happened to be here."

"Uh, who exactly are you?" Ben asked, frowning and looking at Alison.

"Vivan Darkbloom." Alison said, glaring daggers at Ben.

"Should I know who that is?" Ben asked, stepping closer to Emily and putting his arm around her waist.

"No. But the queen does have her connections, everyone's watching her people. So I don't think touching what is hers now is going to do you any favors." Alison said, becoming more and more angry.

"I don't think the queen owns Emily. She obviously doesn't if Emily is outside of her castle. She is a vile person who doesn't care about the feelings of her people." Ben said, his voice filling with disgust. He turned to Emily, "Why don't we go somewhere and catch up? You can tell me about all the nasty things about the queen."

"Ben who are you talking to?" a voice said, coming from the back room. Exiting the back room was a middle aged woman, with flour in her hair and on her hands like Ben. She looked confused, but when her eyes caught sight of Emily, her face lit up and she hurried over to her.

"Emily! I didn't think I would ever see you again!" she said, hugging Emily tightly.

"I didn't either mom." Emily said, hugging her mother back. Alison watched their reunion, examining them. Was this what love was? She didn't know, her parents only paid attention to her because she was beautiful.

"What is the castle like? Is it beautiful? Is the queen beautiful? I heard she's getting married to Prince Noel! Is he attractive? I heard he is! I didn't get to see either of them when the queen escorted the prince to the castle. I heard she's gorgeous." her mother said, releasing Emily and holding on to her shoulders.

Emily's eyes flickered to Alison and Alison shook her head slightly, signaling to Emily that she didn't want her identity being revealed. Especially with Ben around. "She is beautiful. She's been treating me very well." Emily said.

"Obviously not well enough if you had to sneak out of her castle." Ben said, crossing his strong arms.

"She didn't sneak out, I-... Queen Alison let her." Alison said, crossing her own arms.

"Ben, what are you doing here? In my mom's bakery. Shouldn't you be at the butcher's with your dad?" Emily asked, awkwardly trying to steer the conversation away from another bicker between Ben and Alison.

"Ever since you left, your mother has needed some help. I offered to help her until she found someone else... or until you returned." Ben said, rubbing his hands together, causing the flour dust to fly.

"That's awfully sweet of you." Emily said, placing a hand on Ben's shoulder. Alison rolled her eyes, fighting the urge to barf. Emily said she didn't see Ben as anything more than a friend, yet she put her hand on him. Alison didn't imagine Emily's reunion with her mother to be like this. She wanted to yell at Ben that Emily didn't like him the way he thought she did when a goofy smile appeared on his face.

"Hello, dear. I didn't think I caught your name?" Mrs. Fields said, looking at Alison with the same kind eyes that Emily had.

"Vivan Darkbloom." Alison said, holding out her hand to shake Emily's mother's. She tried her best to smile, but she could feel Ben's cold stare.

"Well it's nice to meet you. How do you know Emily?" her mother asked curiously.

"Oh... Just through the queen. It's a bit complicated." Alison said, glancing at Emily.

"Well any friend of Emily's is welcome here. Are you staying for dinner when I get it ready?" Mrs. Fields asked, looking at Emily.

"Actually mom we can't stay longer than-"

"No. Dinner sounds alright. We don't have to be back for a while. The queen doesn't mind." Alison said, cutting off Emily.

"Oh! Well in that case I'll make more bread and soup for us... Ben are you staying for dinner as well?" Mrs. Fields asked.

"Certainly, Mrs. Fields. I'll bring some meat over from my father's shop. Speaking of the shop, I think it's best that I go and help him." Ben said solemnly, sighing.

Alison smirked, happy that he had to leave. Ben, removed his apron and hung it on a peg. From the same peg, he removed his hat and jacket. Just when he was out the door, he turned around and walked back in. Just when Alison thought she had enough of Ben's display of affections for Emily, he planted a kiss on her cheek and whispered something in her ear. Alison's jaw clenched as Ben left, this time for good. This was probably the first and last time that she and Emily would visit her family. At least in the castle, Emily wouldn't be fawned over by men.

"Listen, dears. I have to get back to baking. So unless you want to stay and help, I don't think it's going to be much fun here." Mrs. Fields said.

"Oh that's totally fine. Uh, Vivian and I were going to keep walking around. We'll be back by dinner." Emily said.

Her mom smiled and nodded, allowing Emily and Alison to leave through the door. Once both girls made it out, Emily sighed and rubbed her temples. "I didn't expect Ben to be there."

"It's fine." Alison said, although it was not fine. "I thought you said that you didn't like him that way."

"I don't."

"Well it didn't seem like it." Alison said, as they began walking down the same dirt path.

They remained silent, listening to the crunching of the dirt under their feet and the chirping of the birds. Occasionally, Alison would steal a glance at Emily, who was looking around the forest, taking it all in. In the distance, a bridge was starting to come into view. It was dark brown and narrow enough that only two people could go across.

The approached the brown bridge and stepped on, leaning on the railing to support their weight as they looked out at the lake. The water was fairly calm but they couldn't see the bottom. Alison watched Emily as she stared out at the lake, eyes traveling up and down her assistant. For some reason, Alison got the spur of the moment idea and decided to run with it. She quickly stripped herself of her dress, revealing some very revealing skin. Emily realized this, but before she had time to react, Alison had climbed onto the railing and jumped off.

When the cold water hit Alison, she couldn't remember the last time she went swimming. The water was deep and Alison sunk low to the bottom of the lake, but still couldn't feel the bottom. The feeling of the cool water made Alison gasp for air when she resurfaced. From above, Emily was leaning over the edge, obviously panicked.

"Are you alright, my Queen?" Emily called down.

"Come in!" Alison said, splashing around in the water. The feeling of freedom was taking over her sense like adrenaline, causing a rising sense of happiness.

"I don't think that's a good idea!" Emily called down.

"Just because we are outside my castle does not mean I can't order you! Get down here!" Alison said. She watched as Emily stripped herself out of her own dress, down to minimal clothing. This made it impossible for Alison to tear her eyes away as her assistant climbed the railing, preparing herself to jump off. Instead of jumping, she dove, disappearing under the water. Alison waited for her to resurface and when she finally did, a smile was spread across Emily's face.

For the first time in who knows how long, Alison smiled back at Emily. The feeling of being in the water was great, she felt alive again for once. The responsibilities of being a queen were gone and right now, Alison was enjoying her life while she could.

"You scared me for a second, your majesty." Emily said, treading the water and gasping for breath.

"Call me Ali." Alison said, smiling before diving under again. She swam down as far as she could, feeling the water get colder against her skin. When her lungs began to itch for air, she swam back up to the surface, resurfacing and gasping for breath.

"Uh, Queen Alison." Emily said, her eyes wide.

"Emily I told you to call me Ali."  
Alison said, splashing water at Emily. Emily blew the water out of her mouth and rubbed her eyes.

"No seriously. Your wig. It's coming off." Emily said.

Alison reached her hands up to touch her hair and tried to look at the locks on her shoulder. She could see her wet blonde hair more than her black and she was able to pull her wig right off her head. She stared at it and looked wearily at Emily.

"Do you want me to help you put it back on?" Emily suggested, starting to swim towards shore.

"No!" Alison said, stopping her. "We just got here. I want to swim more!" She swam to the shore and out her wig on the sand, making a note to grab it before they left. She turned back around and ran back into the water, noticing in the sudden events that Emily had been watching her. She swam back out to Emily and placed her hands on Emily's shoulders, dunking her underwater. Alison laughed as she felt Emily shift under water, her hands finding her way to Alison's stomach.

Alison pushed off Emily and began laughing hysterically. Emily resurfaced and continued her tickling assault on Alison's stomach. Alison couldn't stop laughing as she tried to push Emily away.

"Stop! I'm. Ticklish!" Alison yelled. Emily laughed and finally swam away from Alison.

The pair stayed in the water for an hour, only getting out when they figured that dinner time was nearing. Alison was exhausted from swimming all day and couldn't remember the last time she had so much fun. They spent the next hour, drying out and getting ready to go to Emily's house for dinner. They tried fixing the wig as best as they could, hoping that nothing would happen and Alison's cover would be blown.

All the mud had washed off so this wig was basically determining Alison's identity since it was more noticeable now that she wasn't who she said she was. Alison kept her hood up and her head low as they walked to Emily's house, a small hut a little ways away from the town square.

When they entered, Emily's mother and Ben were already inside. Ben was helping by putting the bowls on the table for dinner, smiling when he saw Emily enter. He walked over and greeted Emily by planting a kiss on her cheek, making Alison's blood begin to boil once again. She probably shouldn't feel jealous of Ben, she had just spent the whole afternoon with Emily, swimming in the water. But her jaw still clenched when he kissed her and she was glad that Mrs. Fields quickly told Ben off for his actions.

They sat down to bread, soup, and some sort of pheasant that Ben had brought. She noticed that Emily cast nervous looks at her all while they ate. She was probably worried that Alison wouldn't like the food since royalty never had to eat pheasant under the low candle light and crackling fire. But, surprisingly to Alison, she rather enjoyed this, even if it was Ben's pheasant. She liked being able to eat with someone who seemed to enjoy her presence. Emily's mother didn't ask much about her personal life, she was more interested in hearing about their afternoon. As for Ben, he was actually being tolerable since he couldn't try anything with Emily at the dinner table. Alison compared this dinner to the dinners that she used to have with her parents. Half the time they were asking about how she was doing in her lessons, or about how she needed to do this in order to stay beautiful.

"Uh.. Vivian?" Mrs. Fields asked, looking at her funny.

"Yes Mrs. Fields?" Alison asked innocently.

"You've got. Something...blonde? In your hair?" she said, reaching out to Alison.

Before Alison could react, Emily's mom was trying to see what was in her hair and instead pulled Alison's wig right off, sending her blonde locks to come out from behind held under the wig, down to her shoulders.

Everyone's mouth fell open in the room, including Alison's who looked as shocked Mrs. Fields who was hiding Alison's wig in her hands.

"Mom!" Emily said, outraged by her mother's actions.

"You're... The..." Emily's mom stuttered, staring wide eyed at Alison.

"I knew there was something familiar about her!" Ben said, in an "aha!" tone of voice.

"Shut up Ben." Emily snapped.

"The queen is actually in my house." Mrs. Fields said, her voice full of shock and disbelief. She bowed to Alison from her seated position and Alison didn't like it.

"You don't have to do that." she said, feeling uncomfortable with Emily's mom worshipping her. As she rose, Emily was soon being questioned at rapid fire.

"Why are you both out of the castle?" her mother asked.

"Ali- I mean, Queen Alison wanted to see what it was like to be among the people. We made up Vivian Darkbloom so that we could do that without her being recognized by the public."

Both girls filled Ben and Mrs. Fields in on their intentions, and that they thought it was a good idea in their head. Alison began to feel really guilty as Emily's mother sternly told Emily that Alison could've gotten kidnapped if someone recognized her. She could see Emily was feeling guilty as well, making Alison feel the need to speak up.

"It was my fault I only wanted to come out here and see what it was like. I didn't realize I could've been kidnapped." Alison said.

"Oh. It's not your fault, my queen. It is my daughter's."

"Mom." Emily said, her cheeks red. She looked thoroughly embarrassed by the whole situation. "I think we should be going, my queen." Emily said, looking at Alison.

"Uh, right." Alison said, standing up.

A confused Ben watched as both girls headed towards the door. "You're going so soon?" he said, through a mouthful of food.

"I need to make sure that the queen gets back safely. I hope you'll understand." Emily said. Alison looked back at a still confused Ben and an equally confused mother and thanked them for the meal. The girls exited the shack without another word. Alison drew her hood extremely low over her face since they didn't have the wig anymore now to keep Alison's noticeable blonde hair out of sight.

"How are we going to get back?" Alison asked frantically.

"Let's go through the woods. We can go around the square and avoid all the people. We can cut back through before we reach the castle and tell the guards we were out on a walk." Emily said as they headed towards the woods.

"No! They didn't see us exit! They'd be suspicious. We're going to have to go back the way we came." Alison said.

"Sneak in? Just like how we snuck out! You're mad!" Emily exclaimed, shocked at Alison.

"Well it worked last time didn't it?" Alison said, shrugging as they hurried deeper into the woods.


	6. 5

It must've been a miracle that they both made it back to the castle and inside without being caught by the guards. Both girls entered the queen's bedroom, out of breath and gasping for air.

"I don't think I ever have done something that spontaneously before in my life!" Alison said, falling on the bed.

"Maybe you should do spontaneous things more often." Emily said, sitting down on the bed next to her.

They hadn't even been in the room for more than two minutes when there was a firm knock on the door. Alison groaned and sat up, every muscle in her body ached.

"Speak." Alison commanded to the person on the other side of the door.

"Prince Noel requests to take you on a picnic on top of the hill... Without the company of your assistant." the man said on the other side of the door.

"Why must my assistant not come?" Alison asked, frowning.

"That is what Prince Noel requests."

"I will be ready in no less than an hour." Alison said, standing up and looking at her dirty dress.

"Uh, my queen, he requests that you are ready now-"

"Silence!" Alison snapped, cutting off the man. Silence is what followed Alison's order. "I will be out when I say I'll be out. I didn't think it was unclear who has the higher status around here." she spat cruelly.

"N-n-no, my queen. Certainly not. I will tell Prince Noel that you will be done soon." the man said, his voice trembling. Alison heard footsteps walk away from her door and she walked into the bathroom.

"I need to be free of all of this dirt." Alison said, ridding her body of all articles of clothing. She waited as Emily got everything ready, her eyes thoroughly interested in Alison's soups and bath, not her. Why wasn't Emily looking at her? Alison never noticed until now that Emily always kept her eyes on other things when washing Alison, and it bothered Alison. Was there something wrong with her body? Was there an imperfection that she needed to fix so that Emily would stare at her body?

"Are you going to get in or aren't you?" Emily asked.

Alison looked at Emily but got in without saying anything. Emily wets her hair and began to massage Alison's head, creating a lather with the soup in her hand.

"You know I never asked you how you are so good at massages." Alison said, almost moaning as she allowed her eyes to close.

"Working in the bakery just helped. Kneading dough all day contributed." Emily said casually. "Keep your eyes closed, I'm gonna rinse the soap out."

"Hold still." Emily said, as she finally fits Alison's crown on top of her head.

Alison, who was irritated with Emily, returned to her straight yet powerful facial expression. She kept wondering how Emily was able to look at her with minimal clothing on, but always cast her eyes away when Alison wasn't wearing any clothing. It almost infuriated her, but she had other things to worry about, like what Noel was up to having dinner on top of the hill.

When Alison parted ways with Emily and was swept towards the back exit of the castle towards the picturesque hill on the castle grounds with Noel, she pushed the festering thoughts of Emily to the back of her mind. Emily had Alison's mind going on a whirlwind, and even when she tried to, her mind refused to rest over the matter. Noel seemed to notice this, because he kept looking uncomfortably at Alison as they trekked up the hill. The picnic basket he was holding kept knocking into his leg, causing the contents of the picnic basket to shake.

They reached the top of the hill and Noel opened the blanket he took out of the picnic basket and spread it out. He held out his hand automatically and helped Alison sit down on the blanket, facing her towards the sun which was beginning to set. Noel sat down next to Alison and opened the picnic basket between them.

"I have some watermelon and steak sandwich-" Noel began taking things out of the basket until Alison interrupted him.

"I'm not hungry." she said, and she wasn't lying. She really wasn't. The food that she was given to her from Emily's mom had really filled her up and she wasn't going to eat anything else that night.

"Ali, I didn't poison it." Noel said, holding out a sandwich for her.

"It's Alison. You may not call me Ali." Alison said, remembering that Emily was the only one she had granted permission to use that name. "And I really am not hungry."

"Why not?"

"I previously ate."

"With your assistant? Do you know how wrong that is?" Noel said, looking at Alison like she was crazy. "She's lower class. We aren't supposed to eat with the lower class, it's barbaric."

"I wasn't eating with the lower class." Alison lied. Lying had always come naturally to her, it seemed easier to lie than to tell Noel the truth.

"Well don't in the future. They're all filth." Noel said, laughing at his own comment.

Alison's jaw hardened and her tolerance for Noel's crude remarks skyrocketed. She was mad and confused that she was getting mad at Noel, she would've laughed at these comments a few days ago. But it was different. She thought of Emily as...a friend. Her first actual friend, and now Prince Noel was calling Emily filth and her family filth when they surely weren't. They probably were the nicest people that Alison had met in a while.

"Maybe you should watch what you say. Someone could hear you." Alison said, clenching her fists into balls.

"Who? Your assistant won't, she's back at the castle doing God knows what." Noel said, taking a sip of the wine he poured himself.

"She's better company than you are." Alison muttered.

"Excuse me? Did you say your servant is better company? Listen, I know we haven't been on the best of terms, but she's as dumb as a nail. All common folks don't have the slightest bit of education like us, I'm surprised if she can hold a stimulating conversation." Noel said.

"This is boring. You're boring me." Alison said, crossing her arms.

"Maybe you should meet more people, are you always like this?" Noel asked.

Alison desperately wanted to leave, but knew that it was probably best that she don't. Instead, when she felt she could finally unclench her fists, she heard Noel's new speech on changes he's going to do once he moves into the castle. Alison grew frustrated by Noel's comments, like how he said he didn't like the color scheme of the dining hall where as Alison quite liked it.

"Is this really all you talk about?" Alison asked, thoroughly bored with what Noel had to say.

"What do you mean?"

"I mean we've been, or should I say you've been, talking about the same thing for the past ten minutes. You're going to kill me before it's done." Alison said.

"Well we could talk about something else. I mean, we could start thinking about our wedding. I was thinking, we could have it here, at the white church that's close by. Only a few people will be able to watch, just the people we care about. After that, I can be coronated in front of all of Rosewood as Rosewood's king and-"

Alison stood up, rolling her eyes. "I'm going back to my room. Enjoy your dinner."

"Are you seriously storming out again? It seems whenever I try to do something nice for you, you always end up storming out of the house in a fit of rage or this time boredom." Noel said, standing up and yelling at Alison's retreating back.

"Well maybe you should learn and get a filter! Or try to talk about something interesting in your life!" Alison called back, as she approached the exit. Two guards held the doors open for her as she entered her castle. On top of her thoughts of Emily, Noel had rocked the boat even more. She really couldn't understand his child like behavior. It was rather obnoxious.

She entered her empty room and headed towards the large window in her room. The huge window looked out to the people of Rosewood, making Alison have to dim her lamps so that the people below couldn't see her. She rested all of her weight on the railing, looking out at her kingdom. The sun had just lost itself under the horizon and the lanterns were slowly being lit below. If someone looked out from where Alison was now, they would see a beautiful scene. Something that should be captured in a painting and cherished for a long time.

However, Alison wasn't paying attention to the beauty of her kingdom in front of her, instead she was in deep thought about things that had been bothering her since she returned to the castle. Lately, she always wanted Emily to be around her, she assumed before that it was because of Emily being her assistant but now she wasn't so sure. She was surprised that Emily wasn't up in Alison's room where she belonged and missed having Emily's presence with her.

These past few days, Alison's life seemed to have taken a complete 360. She had laughed for the first time in a long while. The kind of laugh that had no sense of cruel was at all and instead was full of a sudden happiness that she felt when she was in the presence of Emily. She also had smiled, and it wasn't a smirk. She always smirked when she realized she had the upper hand in the things, but that smile made her feel like she was eight again and she didn't know why.

There was a soft knock on the door and Alison assumed that it would be Noel at the door, demanding an explanation for her actions out on the hill.

"Speak." Alison commanded automatically.

"Ali?" Alison heard a soft voice from the other side of the door and her facial expression softened.

"Come in, Em." Alison said, her voice softening as well. She heard the opening of the door and the pattering of feet as Emily walked in and cautiously approached Alison's turned back. Alison finally brought herself to turn around to face her assistant. Emily was standing in front of her dirt free with her purple dress covering and clinging to her body.

"I'm sorry I didn't come up earlier. I was getting the dirt off myself and I didn't expect you would already be done in less than an hour." Emily said, apologetically.

"Prince Noel has a way with getting on my nerves, if he knows it or not." Alison said, turning around to look back out at her kingdom. It was considerably dark now, and she could make out the guards patrolling the streets, holding torches in one hand and swords in the other.

"You're going to be married to him for a long time." Emily stated.

Alison groaned, "I know, and I've been trying to accept him like you said but I can't do it! He really acts like a twelve year old boy half the time and the other half he has too much mud in his ears to allow anything penetrate his thick skull."

Emily didn't say anything and Alison didn't blame her. Who could respond to that? What could she have said? 'Get over it?' No. Even if Emily did say that, Alison didn't think she would be able to. She wanted to marry Noel less and less than before, horrified with having to spend the rest of her life with him. If Alison could tolerate spending the rest of her life with, it would be Emily. She hoped Emily would stay her assistant for a while, and not be forced to have to get rid of her. Although, Emily was Alison's friend now, they shared laughs and smiles. The word friend lay ancient on Alison's lips, but it made her feel good to finally say that Emily was her friend, even if it was her assistant.

"I'm still hoping that there's a way that I don't have to marry him." Alison said sadly. She felt Emily come and stand next to her, looking out at the kingdom as well.

"Maybe there is. But maybe there is nothing you can do. This type of thing probably happens all the time." Emily said. "This really is a beautiful sight isn't it? You're lucky to have such a gorgeous view."

Alison nodded and watched Emily through the corner of her eye. Emily was wide eyed and smiling as she took in the full sight. A small smile played across Alison's lips as her gorgeous assistant marveled at the gorgeous landscape. Emily eyes darted everywhere, looking at everything down below. Alison was wrong before about the landscape, Emily was the one who should be captured in a canvas picture, just so that everyone could see her beautiful faces for centuries onward.

"Hey Em." Alison spoke up after a while of watching her assistant watch the kingdom.

"Yes my qu-, I mean Ali." Emily said, shaking her head at her mistake.

"You remember how before you said to do more spontaneous things?" Alison said, turning to face Emily.

"Yes I remember."

"I want to do something spontaneous again." Alison said, her stomach flipping at the decision she was about to make.

"Now?" Emily asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Yes." Alison said, nodding while trying to find her confidence.

"But isn't it a bit late? Can't it wait until morning?" Emily asked.

"No. It won't take long. We aren't going to sneak out again" Alison said, taking a deep breath.

"Than what exactly do you have planned?" Emily asked, confused.

"This." Alison said.

With a final burst of confidence, Alison did something that she would never have dreamed of doing a few days ago. She leaned forward and closed the gap between her and Emily, without thinking twice. Warm lips pressed against her own in a sweet and chaste kiss. She was scared to see how Emily would react, would she get freaked out and push Alison away? When Emily didn't pull away and instead kissed Alison back, all fear of her action left her body, almost causing Alison to sigh. As they kissed, Alison finally came to terms with how she felt. She now knew that she did in fact think of Emily as more than a friend. This was the first time she ever in her life had romantic feelings for someone and honestly, she was terrified of this foreign subject that she never really thought about until now.

It was hard to believe that it hadn't happened until now, and that it would be Emily, who she would be sharing it with, but that August night was;

The night The Killer Queen had her first kiss.


	7. 6

That night, Alison couldn't fall asleep. The moon was casting bright light into her room, lighting up the carpeted floor like a spotlight. It had to be past midnight, she swore she heard the bell tower toll twelve in the distance. Her open window brought in the cool August air, and the occasional sounds of the patrolling guards talking below. Everything was peaceful and as it should be, but Alison could still not sleep. She had been trying her hardest to focus on her breathing and to let her thoughts stray to a sleep, but they were on a whirlwind. She couldn't help but panic about kissing Emily. She was worried that Emily was freaking out about what she did, regretting her decision. Did Alison regret it? No of course not. She had been thinking about it since Emily tucked her in and left for her own room.

When she couldn't take it any longer, Alison threw back her covers and sat up. She looked around her room frantically and swung her legs around so that her feet could touch the carpeted floor. She took a deep breath and stood up, pulling on her silk robe and tried to find her door in the moonlit room. When she reached for the doorknob, she quickly exited her bedroom and closed the door with a click behind her. She could see two guards at the end of the hallway, guarding the stairwell and talking in their deep voice through their covered masks. Alison approached them, and they looked taken by surprise at her sudden appearance.

"Uh, Queen Alison. What are you doing awake?" one asked, Alison could almost see the confused looks on their faces through the masks.

"Is that any of your business?" Alison asked, holding the sternness in her voice.

The guard shook his head quickly and stood straighter than he was before. "N-no."

"Where is the assistant's quarters?" Alison asked.

"On the lowest level. Your personal assistant is at the end of the hall on that level." the guard said, pointing with his head to the stairs behind him.

Alison nodded and put her hand on the railing of the stairs, walking quickly down the staircase. She walked down the steps, passing all the landings to the different floors until she reached the last one. The lowest level was dark and seemed eerie, there weren't any guards. The only light was the occasional lantern on the wall, it was enough for Alison to navigate her way to the door at the end of the hall. She reached the white door and turned the knob, allowing herself to enter the bedroom.

From her first impression, Alison saw that Emily's room was very clean. Everything seemed almost too perfect, but maybe that was because she was barely in it. The only reason that Alison's room was clean was probably because of the maids that cleaned it everyday. She never had any intentions of coming down to this level before, this was probably the first time in her life that she had even been down here. The room had no windows, probably because the lower level was underground. Alison could only make out things in the room because a candle had been left lit, casting yellow shadows all over the room. On the bed, covered in blankets was a figure laying on their back, a cascade of dark brown hair was spread across the pillows. Their left arm was resting on their stomach, and the other was spread out across the bed. Alison approached cautiously and caught a glimpse of Emily's sleeping face in the candle light. She looked peaceful and innocent, Alison couldn't help but stare at the beautiful girl in front of her. Alison had never seen someone look so beautiful while sleeping, probably because she hadn't watched anyone sleep before. Emily looked angelic.

Alison moved cautiously and sat at the end of Emily's bed, almost hovering over her as she watched in awe. She was tempted to reach out and stroke Emily's face, and no sooner that the thought crossed her mind, she was giving into the temptation. Alison caressed Emily's face with such gentleness that she didn't know she was capable of. Emily let out a deep breath when Alison did so, and she moved slightly in her sleep. Alison moved her hand so that she was holding Emily's head, Emily's ear between the space of Alison's thumb and pointer finger. She brushed her thumb up and down Emily's cheekbone, watching as Emily took deep breaths in her sleep. When she couldn't take it any longer, she found herself leaning down to capture Emily's lips between hers. It hadn't even been a few hours and Alison was already missing and craving Emily's lips upon hers again.

When she was mere inches away, Alison stopped and thought about what she was about to do. Why was she feeling this way over someone of such lower class? Alison was surprised that she had felt this fluttering in her chest at all, never did she expect that she would ever think of someone romantically. Boy or girl.

"A-Alison?" she heard a voice mumble. Busted. Alison's hand shot back and she shit back up, heart beating so loud that Emily probably would've heard it had she stayed closer for any longer. She didn't budge once she placed her hands back on her lap, hoping that Emily had drifted back to sleep. But she wasn't so lucky this time.

"Alison? What are you doing in here?" Emily asked, propping herself up with her elbows, she sounded more awake now.

Alison opened her mouth for words to come out, but all she could make was a weird chocking like noise. "I-I couldn't sleep, so I thought I would come down here." Alison said, barely above a whisper.

"Do you need me to get you something? I can see if I-"

"No I don't need anything." Alison sighed, she didn't know how to say what she wanted without sounding weird. "I was wondering if I could sleep in here."

"I'm pretty sure that's frowned upon by-"

"So is kissing you, but I did it anyway." Alison said, cutting off Emily. It was weird saying that, she didn't think she would ever use those words in a sentence.

"Alison, it's late. I think you should-"

"No. I can't sleep alone tonight."

Emily sighed, obviously not wanting to put up a fight this late at night, scooted over in bed, leaving a large space for Alison. Alison smiled slightly and pushed back the covers, slipping under. Emily's bed wasn't the same quality as Alison's, but Alison only barely noticed as she snuggled into the covers. There was a good six inches of space between the two girls and Alison didn't like it. Without giving it much thought, she reached out and tugged at Emily's waist, causing both of them to scoot forward. The met at the middle of the bed and Ali flipped onto her stomach and snuggled into Emily, the bridge of her nose on Emily's neck and her arm wrapped around her waist. Emily adjusted herself so that her arms were around Alison's upper body. It seemed uncomfortable, and it was at first until both girls shifted themselves.

Alison was intoxicated by Emily's smell and already felt herself drifting off to sleep. She listened to the sound of her breathing and Emily's breathing as her mind began to slip into a dream. Before she fell asleep, she leaned up and pressed her lips to Emily's jaw line. She wasn't sure if Emily knew she did it because she couldn't see if Emily was awake or asleep. In fact, Alison didn't even know if she herself was awake or asleep.

Alison awoke the next morning unaware of where she was. When she finally realized that she was in Emily's room, with her arms wrapped around her, her panic level went back down. It must've been early still because Alison's eyes still itching of tiredness. A new level of panic set in when she realized what Emily would think when she woke up to see Alison in her bed with her. She was probably too tired to realize what was going on last night, even if Emily did remember, Alison didn't want to take any chances of her freaking out. She cautiously unwrapped herself from Emily and replaced her body with a pillow. Emily wrapped her arms around the pillow and continued sleeping, not realizing the Alison had gotten up.

Ali crept towards the door and quickly left, sighing with relief that Emily did not wake up. She felt bad for leaving Emily, but she was afraid of being confronted about being in Emily's room. So she left, and she didn't look back. She climbed the stairs silently and was only interrupted when she met Noel on the stairs. He was going down, rubbing his eyes sleepily, his perfect hair now a mess.

"Alison?" Noel asked, squinting at Ali. There was no hiding the fact that she was standing there since the sunrise was lighting up her face.

"Noel. What are you doing up?" Alison asked, her heart going a mile a minute.

"I should be asking the same thing. I thought your room was on the top floor." Noel said, blinking quickly as his eyes adjusted to the light.

"I was... Just coming up from breakfast." Alison said, thinking up of a fast excuse.

"It's a good thing I caught you then. I was thinking we could go sailing today. For the whole day." Noel said.

"I'll talk to Emil-" Alison began, she honestly wondered if Noel thought that people's emotions reset every morning. Did he forget how mad she was at him the previous night?

"Without your assistant." Noel added. "The only thing she does is help you fix your hair, we'll be out on a sail boat the whole day so I don't see the need."

Alison looked at Noel for a few seconds, confused but she didn't think that she could object. She didn't have an annoying political assistant anymore, come to think of it she hadn't seen a new one yet. But she couldn't object Noel's offer, so she nodded and walked up the stairs as Noel walked down them.

"We leave at 9." Noel said. He continued to walk down the steps at a faster pace, disappearing as he went down. Alison groaned and continued to walk up the steps, that means she would have to get up when all she wanted to do was look out her window and think about the past 24 hours involving Emily.

Alison wanted to scream, but she held a straight face. It seemed like Emily was ignoring her. Of course Emily had to help her get ready, but she avoided Alison's eyes and answered with short and respective answers. If only Emily had any idea what she was doing to Alison when she ignored Alison, especially when Alison wanted to talk about the kiss they shared the previous day. Emily hadn't even so much as hinted that she remembered Alison sleeping in her room, much less share a kiss. It was aggravating and sometimes Alison wanted to scream at her and other times she wanted to slap her. This wasn't what Alison wanted, she wanted Emily to acknowledge their moment, but she herself couldn't find the words to bring it up.

If Emily was going to do this, than Alison was going to show her what she was missing. So she strutted down to Noel and took his arm, knowing Emily was watching. She smirked, wondering how Emily was feeling inside. When she looked back before she exited the front entrance of the castle, her smirk faded as she found no sign of Emily. Emily was gone, leaving Alison to only make up what she was going to do the whole time she was gone. It probably shouldn't be bothering her that much, but she found herself worrying about it the whole carriage ride to the docks and onto the beautiful sailboat that the two would be going on. The people in the town once again stopped and stared as Alison and Noel passed in their carriage. She didn't look at her people this time however, she looked down at the carriage floor feeling the need to admire her shoes.

When they arrived at the docks, Noel got out first and helped Alison out. He led her past the fishing boats in the harbor and past Noel's ship from Ravenswood. They climbed onto the sailboat, Alison almost fell as she climbed on board due to the fact that she was thinking about other things. Noel laughed and helped her on, ignoring Alison's glare.

"You know how to sail?" Alison asked.

"Of course I do. What do you think? I'm taking the queen out on a boat I don't know how to direct?" Noel asked, opening the sails.

"It's quite possible." Alison said, as she sat down. She looked out at the glistening water and felt almost, free. Not the same freedom that she felt when she was with Emily yesterday, but something similar. When the ship began to move, Noel let out a laugh and almost started dancing. Alison, confused by Noel's actions, watched as he began to steer out of the dock towards the open sea with a wide grin plastered on his face.

"I haven't been able to go sailing in a long time." Noel said to Alison when he noticed her facial expression.

"Why?" Alison asked questionably. "Did you crash or something?"

"No, I just have a lot of responsibilities. I'm not even king there and I still have to do all these different things." Noel said. "I never got to fit sailing in until now. I'm glad I get to share the experience with you."

Alison looked at the Kingdom of Rosewood as it got smaller and smaller. After about fifteen minutes, the castle had been reduced to the size of the castle inside the snow globe she bought, the one had she hadn't taken out of its place in her bag. Noel was whistling and steering the boat across the glistening water, reminding Alison of the boy she met back when they were younger. The wind was rushing through his hair, turning his perfect hair into a wild mess, but he didn't seem to care. Alison's hair was also being whipped behind her and she was glad that she decided not to wear her favorite crown and instead a tiara that was much more appropriate.

"Are we exactly going anywhere? Or are we just going to sail around like this for the day." Alison asked.

"Depends. There's an island not too far from here, it's really beautiful. It's fairly small, but it has significance to me... If you wanted to see it that is." Noel said.

"What's with the sudden kindness?" Alison asked, not answering Noel's question.

"I realized that the way I had been acting before was just because I wanted to impress you. But, doing that wasn't going to get me anywhere, in fact, it probably made you hate me more. So, I decided to cut the act and just not try to impress I guess." Noel said, casually as he steered the sailboat to the right.

"So you're looking for a second chance?" Alison asked.

"More like an eighth chance." Noel chuckled. "But yes."

"I guess you'll have to prove your worthiness." Alison said, simply.

Noel smiled, the same smile that he had spread across his face since they began sailing. Alison didn't return his smile, in fact, she looked away quickly, wondering what her assistant was doing back at the castle.


	8. 7

When they arrived at the island, Noel threw an anchor down into the water from the bow of the boat. They were about ten feet away from the shore, Alison was surprised that the boat hadn't hit the sand.

"You may want to take your shoes off." Noel said, kicking off his own shoes and rolling up his pants to his knees. After doing so, he stood up and jumped over the side of the sailboat. Alison, shocked at what Noel did, ran to the edge and looked down. Noel was standing with the water up to his thighs, getting his pants wet.

"There's no way that I'm getting wet, I'll stay up here." Alison said, looking down at Noel.

"Jump! I'll carry you to shore!" Noel said, holding out his arms.

"Are you crazy?" Alison asked, she honestly did think Noel was insane.

"I'll catch you! Don't worry! Just jump!" Noel said, smiling.

"Fine. But get ready." Alison said. She sat back down on the boat and kicked off her shoes, thinking if she could try to distract herself from Emily by being with Noel. Once her shoes were off, she leaned back over the railing to see Noel dip the top of his head in the water. He looked back up at Alison, his wet hair getting in his eyes and the droplets ran down his face.

"Ready?" he asked, running a hand through his hair. It sat on top of his head, shiny and curly from the water. Alison nodded and Noel prepared himself by placing one foot firmly behind him and held out his arms. Alison jumped from the rail and fell down to Noel who caught her just like he said.

Alison was being held bridal style in Noel's arms and he was laughing, staring at Alison with his blue eyes. "That wasn't that bad was it?" he asked as he carried her towards the shore of the island.

Noel didn't say anything as he carried her, the only thing that could be heard was seagulls and the sound of moving water as Noel trekked through it. On the beach of the island, Noel set Alison down with her feet on the squishy sand. Alison looked around the island, it was fairly empty. There were few trees and one giant rock in the center. It was simple, and she couldn't see how this had any significance to Noel. She went along with what Noel was doing as he led her towards the large rock.

Noel climbed to the top of the rock and helped Alison sit down next to him. Curious at what Noel was up to, she looked out at the sailboat and then at the direction that Rosewood was.

"Ravenswood is right over there." Noel said, pointing to the left. Alison leaned forward and could see the tiny speck of Ravenswood. She had been there a few times before, once for Noel's birthday and another time because her father promised the King of Ravenswood that he would attend The Raven's Ball. Alison hated The Raven's Ball, she was almost forced to wear a purple dress instead of the yellow one she loved. Her mother had told her that it was "too revealing" but Alison even at twelve, always got her way. She held her breath until her mom gave in and let Alison wear the yellow one. That was when every Prince at the party asked her to dance, and every Princess glared at her in jealously. Of course she was forced to dance with Noel.

"Alison?" Noel asked, waving his hand in front of her face.

"W-what?" Alison said, blinking quickly and shaking her head.

"I said, 'Do you remember Ravenswood?'" Noel asked.

"How could I forget." Alison said, staring at the kingdom.

"So there's a reason why I brought you here." Noel said, looking at Alison.

"Oh?" Alison asked, not knowing what else to say.

Noel nodded, "This is where my parents had their first kiss when they were engaged. That's why the people of Ravenswood call it the Kissing Rock-"

"I'm not going to kiss you Noel, if that's the whole reason why you brought me out here." Alison said, rolling her eyes. Did all guys just want to kiss her?

"No! Well, I was hoping for that. But this is also the spot that he gave my mother her engagement ring." Noel said.

Alison looked confused as Noel pulled something from his pocket. He opened a box and pulled out a ring, and a beautiful one at that, Alison had to admit.

"It was hand crafted in Ravenswood. I thought it would fit you..." Noel said, holding it up.

The band was gold and twisted, and on the top was a single red diamond. Blood red. "How does this fit me?" Alison asked, taking the ring form Noel.

"Well, you are The Killer Queen...doesn't killer mean...you kill people?" Noel asked.

"Well you aren't wrong." Alison smirked. The ring matched her red lipstick and she surprisingly liked it. She liked it a lot.

"Do you like it?" Noel asked.

"Yeah. I do." Alison said, slipping it onto her ring finger.

* * *

Where was Emily? She usually arrived shortly in Alison's room after Alison. But Emily had been sitting there for ten minutes, twisting the ring around her finger. She was growing more and more annoyed of Emily's no show, and the more time she spent thinking about Emily didn't seem to want to talk about that kiss. She was wondering what to do, and she decided to do the only thing she knew how, make Emily jealous of her, and she had just the thing to make Emily jealous.

Finally, Emily knocked on the door and entered silently. Alison looked over at her door, just as Emily was closing it behind her.

"Why were you not up here earlier?" Alison asked, with the same sternness she used in her voice for everyone.

"I, uh, didn't realize you were back." Emily said, quietly.

Something was oddly suspicious about Emily, Alison could sense it. As Emily approached, Alison inspected her, looking for anything that would've given away that she was doing what she wasn't supposed to. Everything seemed alright, so Alison decided to get on with her plan once she found the silver lining.

"What did you do while I was gone?" Alison asked, motioning for Emily to sit at the edge of her bed.

Emily obeyed and kept her hands in her lap, "Nothing, I cleaned a few things, helped out around the castle. And you, my queen?" Emily asked.

Alison almost corrected Emily to call her Ali but forgot that she was agitated with her. "Noel took me to an island." Alison said, smirking as Emily's eyes widened.

"Oh?" Emily asked, not knowing what to say.

"He gave me this." Alison said, holding up her hand and showing Emily her ring as it shined in the light.

"It's beautiful." Emily said simply.

Alison, annoyed by Emily's reaction decided to step it up. "And then we kissed." she lied, waiting for Emily's reaction.

Emily's eyebrows raised and she looked at Alison. "I thought you didn't like him that way."

"Well it seems that he's the only one who appreciates me around here." Alison said.

"Alison, what is this ab-?" Emily began.

"You know well what this is about." Alison said, her voice rising. "I kissed you and you don't even say anything. And I know you kissed back so don't say you didn't. Then I came in the middle night and we slept in the same bed and you didn't make me leave, so don't deny any of this."

"Honestly Alison, I thought you regretted all of it."

"What makes you think that?"

"Well, you're the Queen of Rosewood, and I'm lower class. Plus I am a _girl_, we're both _girls._ I thought we're supposed to like men." Emily said.

"Do you deny your feelings for me?" Alison asked.

Emily was quiet for a few moments, making Alison anxious for her response. "No." Emily said, quietly.

"In the case we can keep this a secret. Our little secret." Alison said, a smirk playing on her ruby red lips. She scooted over to Emily, her leg pressed against Emily's.

"Did you really kiss Noel?" Emily asked, looking at Alison.

"Nope. These lips are only for you." Alison said, leaning towards Emily. She pressed a sweet kiss to Emily's lips, but something didn't seem right. Alison pulled away and took a deep breath.

"You smell like...bread." Alison said, looking into Emily's eyes. It was the same familiar scent that Alison smelt yesterday in the bakery, and she if she was at the bakery, then that must mean that a certain someone was there as well. "Did you go into town to make out with Ben?" Alison was slightly offended, but then again, she was leading Emily to believe that she had spent the day making out with Noel. She didn't think Emily liked Ben that way either, it was becoming overwhelming.

"No, that's not why I went. I just didn't have anything else to do so I thought I would help my mom since she's struggling." Emily said.

"But you did run into Ben." Alison said.

"Yes..." Emily said tentatively.

"And you made out." Alison sighed.

"I couldn't stop it. I'm not the Queen of Rosewood. Women don't have the same rights as you." Emily shrugged. Alison bit her lower lip, trying to rid the images of Ben and Emily. She looked at Emily, who was looking at her hands, absolutely stunning even when Alison couldn't read her emotions.

Alison, longing to kiss Emily again, reached over and pushed Emily's chin up with her finger before moving her hand to cup Emily's face as their lips collided. Alison, even though she wanted to, wasn't looking to move things any farther than the sweet kisses she was initiating. But, one thing led to another and two minutes later, Alison found herself straddling Emily as they feverishly kissed. Alison's hands were buried in Emily's hair, letting her keep herself propped up as she hovered over Emily. When the lack of air began itching her lungs, she pulled away from Emily, opening her eyes to see her gorgeous assistant under her. Alison laughed at what she saw, there was smeared red lipstick on Emily's lips from Alison herself.

"You look just as stupid. You've got smeared lipstick all over your face as well." Emily said, smirking.

"How awkward would it be if we walked around the rest of the day like this?" Alison teased, rolling off of Emily and laid next to her.

"Oh God, I don't even want to think about that." Emily said, covering her face.

Alison laughed and turned to Emily, holding her head up by leaning on her hand which was propped up. She couldn't tear her eyes off of Emily, even with smeared lipstick on her face. Alison scooted closer to Emily and wrapped an arm around her waist and rested her head on the top of Emily's. "I could lay like this all day." Alison sighed.

"Too bad you have to start planning your wedding with Noel after dinner." Emily said, casually.

"Why can't I get married to you?" Alison asked, snuggling more into Emily.

"Because you have to marry royalty." Emily said.

"If you were royalty, I would so marry you in a heartbeat." Alison said.

"Good to know."

"We should run away." Alison said, voicing the first thought that came into her mind.

"We can't." Emily said.

"Why not? We could escape to a faraway kingdom, I could pretend to be Vivian Darkbloom, we could be happy." Alison said, imagining what it would be like.

"We could if you weren't the Queen of a kingdom. You have a responsibility, your people are counting on you." Emily reminded her.

Alison groaned, "Sometimes I wish that I wasn't queen. That my parents stayed alive for a little while longer so that I could actually enjoy my life. Being Princess Alison was wonderful, no pressure of having to take the throne. That is until my misfit of a brother thought that he could try to kill me because he was jealous." Alison spat.

"Well, things just happen. People do unpredictable things." Emily said, snuggling into Alison.

They were silent for a few minutes, both focused on each other's breathing. At once point, Alison thought Emily had fallen asleep until she spoke up. "You have to be down for dinner soon." Emily said, removing herself from Emily's arms. "We need to reapply your lipstick."

Alison sat up as Emily walked over to get her signature red lipstick, but Alison wasn't looking at Emily's back...far lower than that. She couldn't help but stare, she hadn't noticed it until just now, but now that she knew, she couldn't look away. Emily returned with her lipstick and a washcloth to get the smeared lipstick off her face. She helped Alison as the new lipstick was re-applied perfectly, bringing out Alison's powerful looks.

"I think you're all ready." Emily said, as she began wiping off the smeared lipstick on her own face.

Alison stood up, ready to go down to dinner and see Noel. She didn't want to plan this wedding, but she didn't have much of a choice. She made her way to the door, Emily followed close behind. Before she reached for the doorknob, Alison turned around and placed one final kiss on Emily's lips.

"Ali why-?" Emily began, her hand flying to her lips to touch where Alison's just were.

"Just in case something bad happens to us. Just wanted to have a last kiss...that and I just like kissing you." Alison shrugged, opening the door.

"Let's just get you down to Noel."


	9. 8

"So how about white roses as the centerpiece?" Noel asked, looking down at the parchment between them. He wrote down 'white roses' on the parchment with his quill and sat back in his chair.

"How about no. White roses are so cliche, especially for weddings." Alison said, shaking her head.

This had been going on for about an hour. They couldn't seem to decide on anything involving their wedding. Well, it was more like Noel was pitching ideas and Alison was shooting them down. The only thing that they had decided on was when they were having their wedding. Noel, who seemed to have changed his mind about getting married in three months, was trying to push September 30th. Alison on the other hand, did not want to get married that early, preferring the three month marriage date. In the end, Noel and Alison compromised that they would get married in late October instead, since neither of them wanted to do what the other wanted.

Noel sighed and crossed out 'white roses' on the parchment. "Alison, we have to decide on something." Noel said, leaning back in his chair.

"I know. It's not my fault that you have the worst ideas when it comes to weddings." Alison said. She appreciated that Noel kept a civil tongue with her the whole time that they argued on their wedding. She was surprised that he didn't blow up at her when she said that she did not royal purple to be the color scheme of the wedding. After all, royal purple was one of the main colors of Ravenswood.

"Fine. If you think I have the worst ideas, why don't you pitch some ideas and I can decide on them." Noel said, tossing the quill at the table for Alison to pick up.

"Fine." Alison said, simply as she picked it up and pulled a fresh sheet of parchment towards her. Ideas were forming in her head, as if she had been planning this all her life. "I say, blue hydrangeas for the bouquets and centerpieces."

"Hydrangeas?" Noel asked.

"Not cliche and very beautiful." Alison said, beginning to write down things on the parchment.

After about half an hour, Noel and Alison had gotten some progress. All royalty from all kingdoms was invited, Alison's friends were going to be staying in the nicer guest rooms of the castle, the same went for Noel's parents and his older and younger brother, Noel was going to be coronated as King of Rosewood following their vows, and Alison's white dress would be handmade by Ravenswood's finest dress maker. For some reason, Noel insisted that the dress came from Ravenswood.

"I think that's enough for now." Alison said, when she wrote down the thing on the list.

"Well we made progress." Noel said, yawning and stretching.

"I think my friend's should visit the kingdom soon." Alison said, even though Noel couldn't really prevent her from inviting them.

"Why?" Noel asked. "You'll see them at the wedding."

"I know...I just haven't seen them since my 18th birthday and I never had time for them because I became queen." Alison said.

"Since when have you wanted to 'rekindle the friendships' with them? You rarely saw them anyway since they live so far away." Noel said. "Besides, you never were exactly all that nice to them."

"I know, Noel." Alison said, rolling her eyes.

"Remember that one time when you told Spencer that-" Noel began to smirk.

"Her kingdom has the worst apples. I know Noel." Alison said, glaring at Noel.

Noel began laughing, even though he had been there to witness the event and always brought it up when he saw Alison.

"I'm going back to my room." Alison huffed, leaving a laughing Noel in the room.

* * *

When Alison arrived back at her room, she sat at her desk and pulled out three sheets of parchment and four letters. After dipping her quill in the black ink, she addressed each letter to three different people, but wrote the same message to them.

'I hope this letter finds you alright, and I apologize that I haven't seen you since my 18th birthday.

As you may or may not already know, I am to marry Prince Noel Kahn of Ravenswood at the end of October. A more formal invitation to our wedding will arrive soon for that, but this is an invitation for you to come to the castle, as sort of a reunion. You can stay at the castle for a week, we can host a royal ball at the castle.

Please come on September 7th, the ball will be on September 10th, I was thinking a masquerade ball and invite royalty from all over.

I'm looking forward to seeing you again.

From,

Ali'

Alison stared down at the three identical letters briefly as the ink dried. When the ink dried to the parchment, Alison folded the three letters and placed them in the envelopes. She sealed the letters with the Rosewood wax seal and on the letters she wrote;

'Princess Spencer Hastings.'

'Princess Hanna Marin.'

'Princess Aria Montgomery.'

She felt nervous, wondering if the girls would accept the invitation, ignore it, or do far worse things. She especially wondered how Aria would take the news of her and Noel getting married, since it was no secret that she had a thing for Noel.

After staring at the letters, Alison stood up and grabbed them. She exited her room and walked down to hand the letters to the messenger, hopefully the letters would arrive to them in a week. Now all Alison could do is prepare for their arrival, hopefully they would come.

It was getting late and Alison's eyes began to itch of tiredness. She would have someone write and send all the masquerade invitations tomorrow. She climbed the stairs and entered her room, greeted by Emily, who must've arrived while Alison was getting the letters sent. Alison smiled slightly at the presence of Emily as they started her nighttime routine. Alison was rid of her dress and crown, her hair was braided and she all ready for bed.

As Alison climbed into bed, Emily came up and began to pull the covers up over her. "I'm having a masquerade ball." Alison told Emily happily. "My friends Hanna, Spencer, and Aria are coming to the castle soon and we'll have the ball a few days later."

"Does Noel know?" Emily asked as she pulled the covers up to Alison's shoulders.

"Not yet. But everyone's going to wear masks so that nobody knows who is who and at midnight we'll all take them off to reveal who is who, that way you can go!" Alison said, watching Emily as she leaned over to blow out Alison's light.

"Me?" Emily asked, the room filling with darkness.

"Yes! We can say you're a princess and you can meet everyone." Alison said, excited about her plan.

"And where do we say I'm from when people ask?" Emily asked. Alison couldn't see Emily's face, but she could sense Emily had a frown on her face.

"We'll figure it out as we get closer to the party. I think my friends will like you." Alison said sleepily, closing her eyes.

Emily sighed at Alison's remark, "Goodnight Ali." Emily said quietly. Alison, who was already falling asleep, was almost surprised when she felt Emily's lips on her temple.

"I could get used to that." Alison mumbled. Emily just chuckled in response before leaving Alison's room for her own.

* * *

Alison awoke with a start, her body covered in a thin layer of sweat. It was pitch black in her room, and still the dead of night. She was breathing heavily, as if she had just sprinted for a long period of time. She propped herself up with her elbows and tried to control her breathing. There was a twist of guilt in her stomach and she knew it wouldn't go away until she carried out deed.

She got up from her bed and placed two of her pillows under the covers to make it look like she was sleeping in her bed still. When that was done, she walked into her closet and changed out of her pajamas.

Fifteen minutes later, Alison exited her bedroom silently, pulling the hood of her red coat over her to hide her face. Her dark brown wig hid all her blonde hair underneath it, but Alison was still on edge. She headed towards the secret exit of the castle that only she knew about, the same exit that she and Emily used to get into Rosewood's town square. She made her way to the end of the hall and looked around her, making sure no one was following. She reached out to the large painting in front of her and ran her finger behind it's frame. The painting opened like a door, revealing a dark tunnel that led to Rosewood's town.

Alison picked up the nearby lit lantern and held it in front of her as she entered the tunnel of the painting. There was a lot of cobwebs in the tunnel and at some points, Alison swore she heard the scurrying of rats. She navigated her way through the underground tunnel until she reached a ladder that lead to the surface. Before climbing up the ladder, she placed the lantern on the tunnel's floor so she had it for when she returned.

Alison pushed open the door at the top of the ladder and boosted herself up. She felt the cool air hit her face as she surfaced from the ground. She was in the crypt of the DiLaurentis family. Her grandparents and great grandparents and so forth were buried in the crypt, as creepy as that was. Alison didn't linger in the crypt for long, she made her way towards the exit and opened the door.

The graveyard was empty and the gravestones cast strange shadows everywhere from the moonlight. She ran towards the exit of the graveyard and onto the streets of Rosewood. The only occupants on the streets were the Rosewood guards patrolling with their torches lit. Alison, knowing that no resident of Rosewood was allowed on the streets this late, took to the shadows of the various houses and trees.

When Alison arrived at the destination she was looking for, she entered the house and closed the door silently behind her. She crept towards the familiar dining room table. On the empty dining room table, she placed a coin pouch, heavy with money, and a note. As quickly as she came, Alison left the house, hurrying back to the graveyard to return to the castle.

* * *

"You're here!" Alison said, delighted at the sight of her three friends in the main entrance of the castle. She descended the stairs quickly and rushed over to the three, hugging each of them individually.

"It's good to see you!" Spencer said when Alison wrapped her in a hug.

"I'm so happy you guys came!" Alison said, beaming.

"Wow Ali, what happened to you since you've been queen?" Hanna asked.

"Yeah, you're actually smiling." Aria said.

Luckily for Alison, Noel had left over a week ago back to Ravenswood. He was going to return for the masquerade ball, which turns out he was actually excited for. He had already told Alison that he was going to have a half face white mask.

"Do you want to go up to my room? We can catch up." Alison said, motioning for the girls to follow her up the stairs. "Besides I want you to meet someone."

When they arrived in Alison's room, Emily was sitting on Alison's bed just as Alison left her. The three girls followed behind Alison, looking confused at Emily.

"Who's this?" Hanna asked.

"This is my assistant Emily... And my friend." Alison said.

"You're friends with your assistant? That's a first." Spencer said.

"Yeah you were never friends with Mona. You treated her like-" Aria began, but Alison cut her off.

"Emily is a really nice person." Alison cut Aria off, not knowing what else to say. "She's going to be a fake princess at the masquerade ball."

"Well any friend of Alison is a friend of mine." Hanna said, smiling at Emily.

Emily smiled timidly at Hanna. Spencer and Aria nodded at Hanna's statement, also smiling at Emily.

"Uh, so, now that we know each other, why don't we catch up on each other's lives since June." Alison said, breaking the silence.

"What do you desire to know?" Hanna asked.

"How's things with Noel's friend Caleb? Ravenswood boys are your thing?" Alison asked.

"Caleb? Oh, Noel introduced us at your birthday... his dad isn't royalty, but they are very rich in Ravenswood." Hanna explained, her face going pink.

"Which is why I invited him to the ball! That way you can talk more." Alison said, winking.

"I thought only royalty could go." Hanna said, shocked by Alison's news.

"I made an exception. Besides, Noel requested that Caleb would come so I thought, why not?" Alison explained.

Hanna smiled and looked at her hands as Alison turned towards Spencer. "And what about you Spencer?" Alison asked.

"Uh, well you know-"

"Is Toby from Brookhaven still in the picture?" Alison asked, winking at Spencer.

Spencer's face went bright red and she nodded. Emily couldn't help but notice that Alison seemed to have dirt on everyone, and knew everything about their personal life.

"Well you should know he was invited as well." Alison said, smiling.

After they caught up with Aria's life, the girls sat in silence in Alison's room. Finally, Hanna was the one to break the silence between the five of them.

"So how about you Emily? What's your story?" Hanna asked, smiling cheerfully at Emily.

As Emily explained her story to the four of them, Alison watched on uncomfortably. All of them seemed interested in what Emily had to say, especially Hanna, which is the reason why she was so uncomfortable. Hanna seemed a bit too interested for Alison's liking, and she knew she shouldn't feel this about Emily and Hanna but she did anyway. Alison kept reminding herself that Hanna liked Caleb all throughout Emily's life story, but anger was rising in the pit of her stomach and she didn't know how much longer she could hold it in.


	10. 9

Alison remained thoroughly angry at Hanna, but was able to keep her angry retorts to a bare minimum until she could get her hands on Emily alone. All the anger soon went away once Emily had a red mark on her collarbone, given to her by none other than Alison herself. Satisfied with what she did, Alison was left smirking at Emily whenever Alison glanced her way. Emily was just happy that her dress was covering the red mark Alison gave her, praying that none of the girls would notice.

The whole time during dinner, the girls ate salmon and drank fine wine while they chatted to each other. Alison, as usual, kept glancing at Emily often, worried now about Emily's reaction to what Alison gave her before dinner. They had never done anything more than making out, which was fine with Alison. But now Allison wanted to take things further, she was sure of it. Should spent quite a lot of time thinking about it. But what if Emily didn't want the same?

When Alison looked at Emily once more, she saw her in a conversation with Hanna. Hanna was asking Emily questions about boys, since Emily failed to mention any boys in her story before.

"Come on Emily, a girl as pretty as you HAD to have had a guy in the picture before you came here." Hanna said, pressuring Emily. Alison watched the scene unfold, not tearing her eyes away from Emily, who was growing pink faced. Alison felt heat rise to her cheeks once again, Aria and Spencer seemed to turn their attention to Emily once again. Alison knew Emily would become nervous with all the eyes on her, and she was right when Emily began to look nervously around at them.

"Well there was a guy named Ben, we were supposed to get married, but I came to the castle to serve Alison." Emily explained.

"Oh! Was he cute? I bet he was!" Hanna said. She turned to Alison and frowned, "Why did you take her from Ben? You've broken up love!"

"Actua-" Emily began, but Alison cut her off.

"They aren't in love Hanna!" Alison yelled, her voice echoing and making the glasses shake. "Ben was a vile person who didn't deserve Emily."

All the girls eyebrows were raised in shock at Alison's outburst. She looked around at them with their mouths hanging open.

"Well that escalated quickly." Hanna said, breaking the silence.

* * *

On the night of the masquerade ball, ships everywhere were arriving at the harbor, different kings, queens, princes, princesses, and anyone who was important, arrived at the harbor. People entered the castle with masks covering their faces, walking towards the ballroom. The ballroom had tables on the side and lively dance music was playing for the guests to dance to. There was food and many helpers that walked around in Rosewood's uniform.

As the guests arrived, Alison was up in her room, adjusting her mask in the mirror. Her mask was gold and decorated with twists of silver. It covered the upper half of her face, but it was still obvious that it was Alison behind the gold mask. Her pale yellow dresses flowed ever so perfectly, matching the gold mask. Alison wasn't allowed to see Emily, Hanna had taken her to her guest bedroom to help her get ready. This left Spencer and Aria to get ready with her. Aria had a royal blue dress with a black mask that covered the left side of her face. As for Spencer, she had a blood red dress with her white mask. All three girls were no doubt utterly stunning.

The three of them left Alison's room and made their way down the marble staircase to the front entrance. The guests who were chatting at the entrance before going to the ballroom, all turned their attention to the girls as they walked down the stairs. The noise quieted, leaving only hushed whispers to fill the entrance. Alison was used to this, but her confidence boosted as she smirked at her admirers. Aria and Spencer, on either side were looking at the crowd as well. The noise began to pick back up again and more people began chatting again.

A man in a white mask that covered half his face approached Alison. "Well don't you look beautiful." he said, kissing Alison's hand.

"So you really were telling the truth when you said you would wear a white mask." Alison answered, looking at Noel.

She looked at Spencer, "Where's Hanna and Emily?" she asked.

But Spencer wasn't even paying attention to Alison, neither was Aria. Alison noticed that there was the same silence that had filled the hall when she had descended the stairs. She looked up at the staircase, in which everyone in the hall was staring at. When Alison saw who was descending the staircase, her jaw dropped in awe as well. Two girls were walking down, one with short blonde hair and the other with black hair. It was Hanna and Emily, and Alison was blown away.

Hanna looked gorgeous in her forest green dress, but what really blew Alison away was Emily's dress. She was in light pink and had a white mask with beads on it, covering the same amount of her face as Alison's did. It felt as if Alison's stomach exploded, feelings tons of various emotions that made her head spin. She began to make her way towards Emily but once Emily reached the foot of the stairs, about six princes with masks covered faces swarmed Emily. At the same time, Noel looped his arm through Alison's and began directing her towards the ballroom. People began following their lead, and the crowd began entering the ballroom.

Once inside, Alison began looking for Emily, wanting to see her stunning assistant up close. Her eyes traveled over every face, politely excusing herself from people who tried to stop and talk to her. In the crowd, Alison found Hanna talking to what looked like Caleb behind a blue mask. "Hanna have you seen Emily?" Alison asked.

"Don't you mean, Princess Emily of Riverwood?" Hanna smirked.

"Yeah, where is she?" Alison asked, rolling her eyes.

"Over there talking to Prince Nate." Hanna said, pointing towards the side. When the crowd parted enough, Alison could see Emily talking to this Prince Nate. He was wearing purple with a white mask, and Alison already hated him. He was totally trying to talk up Emily, and Alison wanted none of it. She pressed her way through the crowd, making it a priority to get over there.

"Hey Alison. Do you want to dan-?" Noel said, coming up behind her.

"Not now Noel." Alison said, cutting him off.

When she finally arrived at where Emily and Nate were, she flashed Nate a glare, but he probably couldn't see it since her face was covered with a mask. Emily was smiling at Nate, Alison obviously arrived at the tail end of one of his funny stories. Alison almost clenched her fists and screamed in anger.

"I'm sorry to interrupt but can I speak to Princess Emily alone?" Alison asked.

Nate nodded and smiled at Emily once more before heading off into the crowd of people. Alison pulled Emily closer to her and whispered in her ear. "What are you doing?" she asked, her voice showing signs of her anger.

"What do you mean?" Emily asked.

"Are you purposely trying to make me jealous?" Alison asked.

"What are you talking about?"

"First you come here dressed like a walking sex God, and now you're flirting with the princes." Alison said, furious at Emily's obliviousness.

"Doesn't Princess Emily have an act? I mean, Queen Alison isn't who she says she is. Queen Alison doesn't like Prince Noel and has been spending the past few weeks making out with her female assistant!" Emily said, her voice rising. Alison quickly reached out and covered her mouth to silence Emily.

"Will you stop being so loud?" Alison said, looking around to see if anyone had heard.

"How do you think I feel when I see you and Noel?" Emily said, removing Alison's hand from her mouth.

"You know I don't like him that way." Alison said, sternly.

"And you know I don't like any of those men." Emily countered. "Besides, does this prove nothing?" Emily moved the strap of her dress to reveal a fading red mark.

Alison sighed, realizing she had nothing to worry about. "Fine. After the ball tonight...meet me in my room."

* * *

When the slow dance music came on, Alison was of course forced to dance with Noel. It didn't feel right though, with his hand dangerously low on her back and another holding onto Alison's. Alison looked around the ballroom, spotting her friends dance with some man behind a mask. Spencer with Toby, who was smiling brightly down at her. Hanna and Caleb, who seemed to not even blink as they stared at each other. Aria and someone that she didn't recognize, but his short curly hair made him awfully familiar. And then there was Emily and Nate, laughing at something Nate was saying.

"Ow, what's your problem?" Noel said suddenly. Alison realized she was squeezing Noel's shoulder and hand rather tightly. She quickly let the force go and shook her head.

"Nothing I'm just, tired." Alison said.

"It's almost midnight. That's when everyone takes off their masks and kissed their dance partner." Noel said, smiling.

"What?"

"Did you not hear?" Noel asked.

"No I did. But since when do you kiss your dance partner?"

"It's always been that way." Noel chuckled.

Alison's heart skipped for two reasons. One, that meant Emily would have to kiss Nate. Two, she would have to kiss Noel. It sounded terrible, Alison had never wanted to kiss someone besides Emily. In the distance, the bell tower began to chime midnight and people around them began removing their masks. Alison, took of her own and tore her eyes away from Emily and Nate as they removed their masks.

Alison realized how easily Emily could make her jealous and before she could think about it, Alison acted on her jealously and kissed Noel. It was as disgusting as she thought it would be. It wasn't physically gross like he had slobbery lips or something; but it was just Alison didn't have any feelings whatsoever for him. There were no butterflies, no crave for more.

When she pulled her lips from Noel, wanting to puke right then and there, she looked over at Emily, expecting to see her lip locking with Nate. But Emily wasn't there. It was just Nate standing there, staring at the ground.

"Where's Emily?" Alison asked, removing herself from Nate.

"Wait your assistant is-" Noel began, coming out of his trance.

"Shhh."

"She rejected me and then ran off to her room, I guess." Nate said, sadly.

"Shit." Alison mumbled.

She began walking towards the exit, trying to escape the ballroom. This proved to be a difficult task, especially because no one would move. When she finally made her way out of the ballroom, she made her way towards the lower level of the castle where Emily slept. She rushed forward, quickly reaching the door and entering.

"Emily I-" Alison began before she was greeted by Emily's bare backside. "Woah."

"Learn to knock!" Emily yelled as she frantically pulled her dress back on.

"What are you doing in here?" Alison asked.

"What? Oh I just need some air, these corset things are tough." Emily said, sitting on her bed.

"Is this because I kissed Noel?" Alison asked.

"No."

"You aren't mad?" Alison asked.

"Not really. If I did I would be a hypocrite because of Ben." Emily said.

Alison was relieved yet offended by Emily's response. "Aren't you going to come up to my room?" Alison asked, not wanting to start anymore drama.

"What do you need?"

"...just come with me."

Up in Alison's room, Emily helped her Alison ready to bed as usual, stripping her of her dress and removing the makeup from her face. When the room was dark and Emily leaned down to kiss Alison's forehead, Alison sat up and kissed Emily, pulling her down on top of her.

"You really should be getting to bed." Emily said, pulling her lips away from Ali, but there was an obvious hint that she didn't want this to stop. Alison pulled Emily back down as they continued to kiss passionately; both forgetting all the problems and drama of the day. These were the kissed Alison craved; Noel's kiss was garbage compared to these.

"You and I both know that you don't want this to stop." Alison said seductively in Emily's ear. Her hands travelled up Emily's thigh, touching her smooth skin while riding up her skirt.

"Ali-"

"Shhh, I want this." Alison whispered, leaning up and kissing Emily, hoping that she got the message across. There was silence for a few moments and Alison half expected Emily to reject her.

But Alison was surprised when she felt warm lips on her neck, traveling their way up to a spot behind her ear that made Alison moan and close her eyes.

Alison had never felt so electric. Every touch following, every kiss after, that whole time they spent together with their hands roaming, and their bare bodies pressed together made Alison feel like she was on Cloud 9. She wasn't sure if she was in love with Emily; after all they had only known each other for a few weeks. But then again, it had been a few short weeks and they both were doing the most intimate things possible.

As Alison thought, following their "fun", she wondered why this all felt so right. How Emily's bare body pressed up against her bare back, holding her securely, made everything in the world fit. In Emily's arms there seemed to be only good thoughts, nothing bad could happen to Ali while she was snuggled between them.

In Emily's arms, everything was perfect, which was the last thing Alison thought before she fell asleep.


	11. 10

When Alison awoke the following morning, she sighed happily at the feeling of warm arms wrapped protectively around her. There was soft breathing in her ear, the breaths were even and peaceful. Alison looked out her window, the blue sky and trees with their leaves turning was a very beautiful sight. It must've not been that early, but Alison knew she would have to get up at some point to say goodbye to the guests in her castle. She turned in bed so that she faced Emily, gently kissing her until she awoke. Emily's eyes fluttered opened and she smiled slightly down at Alison.

"Good morning." Alison said, smiling up at Emily.

"It's morning already? I'm still exhausted." Emily said, closing her eyes again.

"Well the ball went on until after midnight and we were up for probably two hours after that. Plus you tired yourself out with all that-"

"Shhh. I'm sleeping." Emily said, placing a finger to her lips, but Alison could see the tug of a smile.

"I know what will get you up." Alison said smirking. She pushed back the covers and climbed on top of Emily, feeling the cool air on her back. The covers started at her lower back, keeping her legs warm. She pushed the hair away from Emily's neck and leaned down, kissing her behind the ear and down her neck. Emily began squirming, biting down on her lip to keep from making a noise.

"Hey Alison, the guests are going to be leaving so-" The door to Alison's room suddenly and someone came in, totally catching both girls off guard. "Woah."

Alison's head snapped up and turned to the intruder. There was much scrambling as Alison jumped off of Emily and to the other side of the bed. Emily pulled the covers to her chin to cover her private areas. Alison did the same, the cover ending under her armpits.

"Ever heard of knocking?" Alison yelled, furious and embarrassed.

"I'm sorry I thought you would be up already!" Hanna said, her hands covered her face, shielding her eyes.

"You can take your hands off Hanna we are under the cover." Alison said, rolling her eyes. Alison glanced at Emily, who was beet red and looking at her hands.

"What exactly is going on in here?" Hanna asked, removing her hands and staring bewildered at the two of them. "You're marrying Noel!"

"I know Hanna! But you know I never liked him like that. I've known him since I was little and not one time had I thought of him as more than a friend." Alison explained.

"I can't believe this whole time you are supposed to be getting married to Noel, you've been having an affair with Emily?" Hanna said, a bewildered expression spread across her face.

"It's not an affair! We aren't married!" Alison protested.

"Oh but you will be! And what happens then? It will be an affair still." Hanna explained.

"Oh just shut up!" Alison said, rolling her eyes. "You don't know the half of it Hanna. Prince Noel was forced upon me, I didn't want to marry him. Emily is the first person that I've had feelings for."

"Look, I don't want you hurting Emily's feelings. She's a wonderful person." Hanna said, crossing her arms. "If this is how you want to live your life, how am I to stop you?"

"What makes you think I'll break her heart?"

"Oh Alison, have you forgotten? You are The Killer Queen you know."

With that, Hanna exited the room before Alison could tell her not to tell anyone. She looked open mouthed at Emily, who was hiding under the covers. She tugged at the covers to reveal Emily, red faced and embarrassed, utterly gorgeous with the lack of clothes.

"I'm sorry." Emily said quietly.

"What for?" Alison asked.

"What happened this morning."

"It wasn't your fault."

"Are you sure?"

"Yes. Now let's get ready so I can say goodbye to the guests." Alison said, standing up.

She made her way towards the bathroom, smirking as she caught sight of Emily in the mirror staring at her naked figure as she walked. Finally Emily was looking at her like how she wanted, and she felt great.

As Alison said goodbye to all of her guests, she couldn't help but look at Hanna every once in a while. She wanted to make sure Hanna wasn't going to out her secret to everyone, but when she looked over she saw that Hanna was talking to Emily most of the time. There was no awkwardness between them as the two chatted enthusiastically to each other. It made Alison more and more anxious to get all of the people cleared out of her castle.

When all the people left, including Noel, the five girls decided to talk about last night's events in Alison's room.

"Guess what happened last night." Aria said, sitting down on Alison's bed. Alison sat down on her bed as well, towards where her pillows were. She caught Emily's eyes and patted the space next to her. Emily walked over and sat down next to Alison, who began to subconsciously play with Emily's hair.

"Enlighten us." Alison said, looking at Hanna, who was giving Alison a look.

"I met this super cute guy named Prince Ezra." Aria gushed, going on about his love for writing and pie.

"I think all of us had some guy time last night. Right Em? How was it being a princess for the night?" Spencer asked.

Em? Did Spencer just call Emily, Em?

"Yeah it was nice, but I do prefer helping Alison." Emily said.

"And Alison, I saw you kissing Noel." Spencer said, smiling at Alison.

"That wasn't the only person she was kissing that night." Hanna coughed.

All heads turned to Hanna, eyebrows raised. Alison's jaw hardened as she tried to give Hanna an intimidating stare without the other girls noticing.

"What do you mean by that?" Spencer asked.

"What? Oh nothing." Hanna said, acting like she hadn't said it in the first place.

The girls continued to talk, but Alison was getting more and more uncomfortable as they continued to talk. Hanna kept throwing subtle hints around, making Alison glare at her every time the girls' had their backs turned.

"Okay, as much as I would love to stay here, I have some things to do." Emily said, standing up.

"Where are you going?" Alison asked.

"Oh, just taking care of a few things." Emily said, before making her way towards the door.

Alison quickly got up and excused herself before following Emily out into the hall.

"Are you going to see your mom?" Alison asked, crossing her arms. Emily turned around and looked uncomfortably at Alison. "You don't have to that. I took care of her."

"You killed her?!" Emily said, mouth hanging open.

"No! What makes you say that?" Alison asked. Emily didn't answer, instead she gave her a look that Alison could figure out on her own. Her name after all was the Killer Queen.

"So you killed her because you didn't want me seeing her anymore?" Emily asked angrily.

"No! I gave her money! That way you wouldn't feel obligated to go see her. She isn't struggling anymore, in fact she's doing quite well." Alison said.

"Why did you give her money?" Emily asked.

"Because I felt bad ok? I felt terrible that I had taken her only daughter away from her, leaving her with Ben to help her at the bakery. I didn't want to release you from the castle, so I thought giving her money was a better option." Alison explained.

They stood there in silence for a few seconds, Emily finally broke the silence. "I still have things to do." she said, turning around and walking down the steps.

She left Alison alone in the hall with the only thing to do, walk back into her room. When she entered, all three girls were staring at her, mouths slightly opened.

"What?" Alison snapped. She looked at Hanna, who was shaking her head quickly, looking at the girls. Alison immediately picked up on what was happening. "You told them didn't you Hanna."

"I-" Hanna began.

"Why didn't you tell us?" Spencer asked.

"I think it's cute." Aria said, which was not how Alison thought she would react if she found out.

"You weren't supposed to know." Alison said, crossing her arms. "What exactly do you know?"

"Just that you and Emily have kissed before." Spencer said.

Alison looked at Hanna, she hadn't told them everything but maybe it was because Alison walked in before she could finish. "Care to explain Hanna?"

"Friends share secrets, that's what keeps them close. You said it yourself." Hanna said.

"Yeah when I was fourteen!"

"Still counts. Don't be a hypocrite." Hanna said.

Alison sighed and rubbed her temples, "Can we just get over this?"

"Well I support Alison and Emily, at least she's happy." Aria spoke up.

"Thank you Aria." Alison said.

Aria nodded and smiled, giving Alison the support she needed in that one look. With Emily gone, it seemed there was a slight tension between the girls now that they knew about what Alison and Emily had done. Alison was thankful though that Hanna hadn't mentioned what she walked in on them doing.

* * *

When the time came, Alison and Emily said goodbye to Hanna, Spencer, and Aria on their final day. Time had seemed to repair the tension between them, the topic hadn't come up since Hanna told Aria and Spencer. Alison was glad no one had mentioned it, but she and Emily hadn't even as much as stolen a kiss while the girls backs were turned, Emily seemed still thoroughly embarrassed that they had been caught and didn't want to try anything while they were there.

Alison was happy, yet sad that the girls were leaving. It reminded her of the times she used to spend with them, even if they weren't all that great. She hugged each girl when they arrived at the harbor to get on their different ships. "I'll see you at my wedding." she told them.

She waved with Emily as the ships began to sail away, the people of a Rosewood that came to watch the princesses departure also waved. When they left the harbor and made their way into the carriage.

"Finally alone." Alison said, winking at Emily, who was sitting across from her.

"Alison have you ever been apple picking?" she asked. Alison was surprised by Emily's question, but as Alison thought back, she had never been.

"No. Why?"

"September is when people in Rosewood pick their own apples, it costs less if you pick them yourself. So today, we're going to go pick apples and I'll teach you how to make an apple pie since I know you haven't touched unprepared food ever." Emily said.

"Why are you making me do this?"

"Because if you're going to teach me how to read and write, than I'm going to teach you how bake."

"Fair enough. But I deserve a prize when we're done." Alison winked.

Two hours later, Alison and Emily arrived at the apple orchard. According to Emily, people came here when they had free time and wanted to spend it with someone else. You would take a basket and pick your apples, getting them half price than if you bought them at the market. Alison remained quiet their whole walk there, looking at the beautiful orange, yellow, and red leaves. They were beautiful, almost as beautiful as Emily. Alison wondered why she never noticed their beauty until now, Emily was opening her eyes and helping her see the beauty of the world that she was blind to.

Alison, in her black wig and red coat, followed Emily as she grabbed a basket. The wind blew through their hair, making Alison nervous that her blond hair would begin to poke out. Emily handed her a basket and lead the way down the dirt path towards the apple trees with apples on them in red, yellow, and green.

"What type are we looking for?" Alison asked, looking at the red shiny apples.

"Nothing in particular, I'll let you pick." Emily said, looking around her.

"These kind are my favorite." Alison said, pointing to the shiny red apples with bumps on the bottom. They left the dirt path and approached the apple trees with the shiny red apples.

"How are we supposed to get the ones higher up?" Alison asked, looking up into the tree.

"You climb it." Emily said simply. She reached out and wrapped her hands around a branch and pulled herself up. "Come on up."

"Are you crazy?" Alison said, looking up at Emily as she climbed the tree. "No way!"

"Be a spontaneous!" Emily called down, making her way to the top.

"Oh not this again!"

"Well look what at where it got you last time." Emily said. "At least catch the apples when I throw them down."

"Fine I'm coming up." Alison said, she pushed the basket up her arm so that she could grab onto the tree with both hands.

Soon enough, Alison was at the top of the tree with Emily, picking the delicious looking apples and placing them in their baskets. Emily rubbed an apple on her dress and took a bite, listening to the satisfying crunch sound it made.

"I've never eaten an apple that way before." Alison said.

"Really?"

"Yeah. Only apples that have already been sliced." Alison said.

"Here." Emily held out the red apple. "Just take a bite like I did."

Alison took the apple from Emily and took a bite right next to where Emily took hers. It felt funny, biting into, but she heard the crunch and felt the juice in her mouth.

"Still my favorite." Alison said, after she chewed and swallowed.

They picked apples until the weight of the baskets filled. They climbed down from the current tree they were in.

"Now I'll show you how to make apple pie." Emily said as they walked to pay for their apples.

"I better be getting my reward."

"Of course, my queen."

"Stop calling me that!"

"Calling you what?"

"You know exactly what I'm talking about."

Emily laughed and leaned over, kissing Alison's forehead. "Let's go home."

* * *

"So you just dump in the sugar?"

"Yeah."

"All of it?"

"Yes."

"Ok..."

"Not so fast you're going to spill it!"

Emily and Alison had arrived in the kitchen an hour later to a confused chef. He had never in Alison's eighteen years seen her in his kitchen, but he let them use the kitchen alone without question. After all, she was the queen.

Emily had cut up the apples quickly and placed them in a bowl, allowing Emily to roll out the dough for the pie crust. Alison was in charge of pouring the sugar and other spices into the bowl of apples, which proved to be a more difficult talk than expected.

"Okay, what's next?" Alison asked.

"Cinnamon."

"How much?"

"About a teaspoon sounds good." Emily said as she laid the pie crust into the pie plate. Alison continued adding the spices that Emily gave her, carefully pouring in the appropriate amounts. She mixed them together and poured the apples into the pie plate. Emily placed the top pie crust on and put the pie in oven.

"How long will it take?" Alison asked.

"About an hour."

"Perfect." Alison said, smiling.

"Why?"

"Because I want my prize, and that's you." Alison said, pulling Emily by the hand towards her. Emily smiled before Alison pulled her into a kiss, kissing until the pie was ready.


	12. 11

"Suck in please."

"God why does this feel so tight?"

"Hang on, your highness. We just need your last measurements for your waist."

"We still have to do everything else?"

"I'm afraid so."

Alison was in her room, getting her wedding dress fit by Ravenswood's best tailor. Much to her disliking, Alison's wedding was approaching rather quickly. The leaves turning brought a reminder to Alison that the date was quickly approaching, October 25th. Already the castle began stirring, preparing for Noel's arrival. Even though it was late September, Alison already got a glimpse of his crown, the one that he would wear everywhere once he became king. Alison didn't want to share her power of Rosewood, at least not with Noel. His crown happened to strongly resemble hers, and she didn't like that either.

As for Emily, she had gotten far in her lessons with reading and writing. She wasn't perfect, but she wasn't terrible either. They spent an hour a day reading and writing. Emily had just started reading a chapter book (with the help of Alison of course) and she was doing surprisingly well. Of course, Emily probably wouldn't have gotten as far in her lessons had Alison not rewarded her with some "fun" following them.

Emily hadn't come to Alison's dress fitting and Alison had a sinking feeling that it was because she didn't want to come to terms with the fact that Alison was getting married. Alison's number one priority after getting her dress fitted was to find Emily, wherever she may be.

Alison's patience grew thinner and thinner as she was fitted. Her dress was beautiful, but Alison hated it. She would've loved it, had she been getting married to someone else and not Noel.

Suddenly there was a knock on the door and Emily entered, holding a book that looked very old and very dusty.

"Excuse me. No other guests allowed while I pin up Queen Alison." the tailor said, she seemed rather annoyed with Emily's presence.

"Oh I'm sorry. I didn't realize. I'll come back at another time-"

"She can stay." Alison said sternly. Alison turned to Emily and nodded at the item in her hands. "What do you have there?"

"I'll tell you later, but I think it might have the answers to your problems." Emily said, smiling wide. "I only could pick out some of the words though, so I may be wrong."

"Hang on I'll be done soon."

"Find me in the library."

Emily heaved the dusty old book away and out of Alison's bedroom, leaving Alison and Ravenswood's tailor alone for her dress to be fit.

* * *

"Emily what is it?" Alison asked, peeking her head around the corner of the bookcases. Emily was sitting on the ground with the dusty old book propped open between her legs.

"Sit down." Emily said excitedly.

"A queen doesn't sit on the floor." Alison said, looking disgustedly at the floor.

"Just sit." Emily said.

Alison sighed and sat down next to Emily, snuggling up next to her as Emily pointed to the page she was reading. On the page, there was a colorful picture of what seemed to be a castle. On the next picture, there was a drawing of someone of royalty. She looked similar to Alison, with golden blonde hair, but the crown atop her head was different.

"Queen Lauren Seville ruled Rosewood without a king, but instead a second queen, Queen Olivia Reinheart. Both queens lead the kingdom through dark times, bringing Rosewood to light." Alison read. She looked up from the text and turned to Emily, "You could read this?"

"Some if it. I picked out some of the words."

"Should we do it?"

"You think it's a good idea?"

"I think we can do it. They already think you're a princess, we can overthrow Noel and I can teach you how to be a queen."

"How would we overthrow him?"

"Jason wasn't allowed to become king because he was charged with treason." Alison said, getting an idea.

"So what you're saying is... we frame Noel and he is charged with treason. That sounds really horrible, framing someone innocent." Emily's eyebrows raised and she bit her lip.

"Not if he actually does it." Alison said, smirking. "Knowing Noel's temper, it probably won't be very hard."

"You think we can do it?"

"Of course."

* * *

The next few weeks consisted of months of tireless queen training for Emily. Although they practiced, Emily was struggling with some things. Most of it included Emily's table manners and speaking properly. Even though she was struggling, Alison had a lot of patience with Emily's lessons, because she wanted it more than anything. To be rid of Noel and to live happily ever after with Emily.

As Emily progressed in her lessons, Alison planned how she was going to get Noel charged with treason, which seemed to be a harder endeavor than she originally thought. All of her schemes seemed a lot less believable than the one before.

"Sit up straighter Emily. No slouching." Alison corrected at dinner.

It was a day before the wedding, and time was running out. Emily's patience was running thin and Alison could tell, hers was running thin as well.

The guests were going to be arriving the following morning and it was their time to initiate the plan to have Noel charged with treason by the end of the night of their wedding. It seemed like a lot to do in such a short amount of time, but Alison believed that their intuition would help them get their plan to work. If Emily couldn't act the part of being queen, people would become suspicious of the new queen's manners. Since the people of Rosewood knew Emily, their plan was that whenever she was in public, she would wear a mask. If people asked why, Alison would spread a rumor around (without the people knowing it was her) that Emily was beyond beautiful and that if people saw her face they wouldn't be able to function. Rosewood was gullible enough, and was into myths like that, so it would be easy to get them to believe it.

Alison had secretly had a crown made for Emily, as a surprise for her. It had come all the way from the same person who made Alison's crown, Alison's lie to the crown maker is that she just wanted another crown to wear. The one being made was gold with some accents of white gold. It had purple jewels in it, because Emily's best color was purple. Alison was very proud of the design, since she designed it herself and couldn't wait to show it to Emily before the plan began before the wedding.

"This is so annoying." Emily said, frustration in her voice.

"If you're going to be a queen, you need to act the part." Alison said.

"Well maybe I'm not meant to be queen."

"You are. You just,... you need more practice." Alison said, biting her lip.

Emily didn't say anything for the rest of the dinner and when that was over, Alison decided to show her what she had in store for Emily.

"Follow me Emily." Alison said, walking towards the doors of the dining hall to her room.

"Alison, I'm really tired and I'm not in the mood for-"

"No not that! We did that last night, I actually have something for you." Alison said as they climbed the steps of the castle. Alison hoped Emily would like it, but she was second guessing herself. She wondered if showing Emily the crown would overwhelm her and make her back out of the plan to charge Noel with treason and she would take over.

When they entered Alison's room, the crown was right where she left it, on a table covered with a cloth to hide what was under it from Emily. Alison stepped towards it and turned to Emily.

"Go ahead and pull it off." Alison said, watching as Emily eyed it uneasily.

Emily's hand reached out and removed the cover that was covering the crown and gasped.

"That's-?"

"Your crown, yes." Alison said.

"Can I put it on?"

"No. It's bad luck for a queen to wear her crown before her coronation." Alison said, smiling at Emily's wide eyes as she examined her crown. "Do you like it?"

"I love it. But it's just, a bit overwhelming. I'm going to be taking on a great responsibility." Emily said, reaching out to touch her crown. Alison slapped her hand away, and placed the cover back on top of it, hiding the crown from temptation.

"Are you ready to start the plan tomorrow?" Alison asked, as she took the crown away and hid it.

"I'm super nervous, I don't know how I'm going to be able to sleep tonight, but yes, I am ready." Emily said, nodding.

"You can sleep up here, that way the nervousness will subside and we'll both be able to sleep." Alison offered.

"I can't believe we're actually doing this." Emily said, laying on Alison's bed and sighing.

"Don't worry. It'll all be over soon."

* * *

When the guests began to arrive on the day of October 25th, Alison's stomach wouldn't stop churning. What if their plan didn't work and at the end of the night, Alison was married to Noel? The other possibility was that they would be caught for trying to have Noel commit treason, and Alison could be charged with treason herself. All these possibilities seemed to get worse and worse in Alison's head the more she thought about it. Her stomach really began flipping when Noel arrived, kissing Alison firmly on the cheek and telling her that his outfit was white and he looked rather marvelous in it.

Noel was followed by Aria and Ezra, arm and arm and smiling widely as they greeted Alison, commenting on how lively Rosewood looked in preparation for the new king. Aria and Ezra had an obvious relationship going on, which was curious since Alison was fairly certain that Ezra was a few years older than Aria. Next came Spencer and Toby, his fixed smile almost made Alison suspicious, but it was probably because he was in a lot of pain. His left arm was wrapped up and he told Alison that he simply broke it while on his horse, Alison wasn't sure if she believed that story or not. Spencer also made a deal of pulling Alison aside and asking about her relationship with Emily. Alison sternly replied to Spencer that she didn't need to worry, she and Emily were still together and the whole thing with Noel would be over then there was Hanna and Caleb, arm in arm as Hanna pulled Caleb along. This time around, he was clean shaven, probably something that Hanna convinced him to do before they got to the castle.

Alison met many others, none of which she really cared for. The others were meaningless trading countries that Alison had to smile and act like she knew them because they had things that Rosewood needed.

When the time came, Alison made for her room, followed by a masked Emily so that Emily could start to her Alison ready for the wedding. It was going to take a lot of work, especially because they also had to go through their plan one last time before beginning. As Alison got into her white dress, they both recited it to make sure both understood.

"Before the wedding, I'm going to find Noel and pull him aside. I'll talk to him and start throwing some insults at him to get his temper going. The final thing I'll do is throw my drink in his face, preferably red wine and that should send him over the edge. By then, you'll have the guards and they'll enter when he's trying to make a grab for me, and boom, charged with treason and the wedding is off." Alison said, as Emily braided her hair and wrapped tiny white flowers through it.

"What if my timing is off?"

"I think I can hold him off." Alison said confidently.

"It's too bad we don't have a way of communicating without shouting to each other."

"Yeah. Too bad."

There was a knock on the door and a small voice was heard. "Queen Alison? You're expected downstairs in thirty minutes, the ceremony will begin soon." someone said softly. Alison looked at Emily, her stomach really doing flips now.

"I should go down now and get this plan started." Alison said. Emily nodded and helped Alison up and towards the door. "In about ten minutes, go and get the guards, I'll be in the dining hall with Noel. Once the guards see it, I would have enough evidence to charge Noel with treason."

"This better work." Emily said as she opened the door for Alison.

"It will. Trust me, this will be over and he'll be out of our hair." Alison said, reassuringly. She stroked Emily's arm and smiled, trying to ease Emily's nerves. Before leaving Emily, she leaned over and kissed her quickly. "Now let's get this plan going."

* * *

Emily sat in Alison's room, waiting for the ten minutes to tick by before going to get the guards. She was beyond nervous that their plan wasn't going to work and Alison was going to wind up dead and it would be all her fault. All the possibilities of their plan going wrong had Emily's heart beating a mile a minute.

When the ten minutes ended, Emily stood up and adjusted the mask on her face. Alison and Emily both agreed that she would wear it to start the rumor that she was beyond beautiful and it must be shielded from the rest of the guests. Emily walked towards the door and pulled it open, only to find Noel standing in the doorway. Emily was speechless, why wasn't Noel with Alison? Her stomach flipped, if Noel wasn't with Alison that could only mean Alison was dead. But Noel's white wedding outfit was spotless, no sign of a drink being splashed on him. Noel reached out silently and lifted the mask off Emily's face, the full white full face mask came off and he held it in his hands, a big smirk on his face.

"I thought it was you." Noel said quietly. He pushed his way into Alison's room, passing Emily, who was still shocked at Noel's appearance. "I can't believe I didn't put two and two together at the masquerade ball. A beautiful princess named Princess Emily from a far away kingdom that no one had heard of until now, I can't believe I didn't see it then."

Was Noel really that stupid that he just realized it now? But there was something about Noel's voice that was unusual, it sounded disgusted and rude.

"Ever since Alison and I were arranged to get married, you have always got in the way. It seemed that Alison was more interested in spending time with her assistant from her pathetic kingdom, than her fiancé. She insists that she brings you everywhere and when she saw you at the masquerade ball, she seemed to only be paying attention to you." Noel said, sitting on Alison's bed.

"Your point is?" Emily asked.

"That can't happen anymore now, you commoner. That's all you are, no matter what Alison told you. I can't have someone like you getting in the way anymore, so we're going to have to silence the lamb." Noel said, smirking again. There was a click and Emily saw the shiny small pocket knife in his hands. "The door is locked, I wouldn't even try."

Emily quickly grew afraid as Noel sat there, turning the knife in his hand. "I never figured out why she preferred you after all this time. She's going to be pretty upset that you...killed yourself." Noel said, standing up.

"It isn't going to work. You won't succeed at this." Emily said, backing up as Noel made his way towards her.

Noel chuckled darkly, "Oh but, it already has. Goodbye Emily."


	13. 12

**Welcome to the final chapter of The Killer Queen. **

**Thank you for all the reviews and your support. I am looking for a new story idea, preferably AU. If you have an idea for a full length story, please do not hesitate to leave the summary in my PM.**

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Something wasn't right. She couldn't find Noel anywhere and she had literally looked all over the castle. The ten minutes were running out which meant Emily was going to get the guards and search for Noel, who wasn't doing anything worthy of being charged with treason. Alison began to panic as she ditched her plan and ran back up to her room to stop Emily from telling the guards that Noel was doing something worthy of being charged with treason.

"Alison!" someone called for Alison as she climbed the stairs. She turned around to see Hanna climbing the stairs after her. "Wait up!"

"Hanna I really don't have the time right now." Alison said, trying to climb the stairs still.

"Slow down!" Hanna said, running up the steps. "You're going to make your makeup run and trust me, you don't want to get sweaty before your wedding."

"What exactly do you want Hanna?" Alison asked, annoyed, she climbed the steps once again.

"Did you work things out with Emily...you know since you're marrying Noel?" Hanna asked in a stage-whisper. "By the way you look stunning in your dress."

"No I didn't because I'm working things out with Noel because I'm staying with Emily."

"What?" Hanna asked, shocked. "Good luck convincing him. He practically kisses the ground you walk on."

"I am not exactly looking to convince him."

"What do you mean?"

"I can't explain right now, Hanna. I need to find someone." Alison said, hurrying up the stairs.

"Oh! Who is it? I can help find them." Hanna said, hurrying to catch up.

"If you see Noel or Emily or both. I don't know, I just need to find them to make sure everything is alright." Alison said, getting more frantic as she noticed the guards at the top of the stairs were gone. Emily must've been here and taken them towards the back staircase.

"Shit." Alison mumbled as she raced down the hallway.

"Alison! Stop!"

"Get the guards! Go find them, something isn't right. Go Hanna!" Alison said, as she ran towards her room. "I'll be done in a few minutes, I need to grab something in my room."

"Alis-"

"Go!"

Alison reached her room and threw the door open. She entered quickly, looking for Emily. Instead of finding just Emily where she left her, she found Noel too. Noel was dangerously close to Emily and once he turned at Alison's sudden presence, Alison had a full view of what he was actually doing.

He had a knife pressed against Emily's throat, Emily looked paralyzed in fear, tears streaming down her face.

"Ali." Emily chocked out.

"What the fuck are you doing?" Alison yelled, running towards Noel and Emily.

"Stop!" Noel said, twisting Emily so that he was behind her with the knife pressed to her throat. "One more step and I'll kill her!"

Alison stopped, having no other choice but watch as Emily looked at her with terror in her eyes, and Alison was powerless. For once in her life, Alison had no control of the situation, something that had never happened before. When Jason tried to kill her, Alison had the upper hand, but now this was the love of her life that was going to be killed.

"Why are you doing this Noel?" Alison asked.

"Why?! I know what you two had! I saw those stolen glances and the way you looked at each other. You look at a commoner like she was gold, why could you look at me that way?" Noel asked, his voice cracking and his eyes filled with tears.

"Noel, you need to let go of Emily." Alison said, calmly.

"No! She can't live if we get married, she must die."

"Think about it Noel, if you kill her, it'll get all you. The blood will stain your white clothes forever, you'll never be able to get over the guilt." Alison said, trying to pick at Noel until he caved. Something she still did best.

"How would you know that Alison?" Noel asked, his voice shaking.

"Because, I know you Noel. You've never have killed anything in your life. We all know that." Alison said, a smirk playing on her face. She knew she had him, he was beginning to tremble.

"How about you Alison? You've killed tons of people, if she dies, then you won't feel anything."

"Now you're just speaking nonsense Noel, I sometimes wonder what went through your head when you formed this plan." Alison said.

"What happened to the Alison that I knew? The one who was a heartless bitch to the commoners, who didn't give two shits about if they lived or died."

"Sometimes you think you know people, but then they surprise you."

Alison could hear faint footsteps coming at a fast pace towards the room. She smirked, knowing that help was coming.

"I guess this wedding isn't happening after all." Alison said, smirking wider.

"What?" Noel asked.

Emily made a choking noise as the guards came bursting into her room, followed by Hanna. For once in her life, Hanna actually put two and two together. Alison hadn't come down for a while, it was only common sense that something must've happened. Thankfully, Hanna knew that too.

"Emily!" Hanna said, when she saw Emily.

There must've been five masked guards come in and break free Emily and Noel. Alison was blocked from view, but she heard Noel shout a few times as he was pulled away. Alison was holding onto Hanna for dear life, waiting to get to Emily, who still couldn't be seen. Suddenly, Emily screamed out in pain and Alison's grip tightened as she called for Emily.

Finally, Noel was pulled away by two guards, his mouth bloody and he had a cut under his eye. He looked worse than Emily, who had a large slice in her shoulder where Noel must've gotten her in the scuffle. The guards on her side, tried to grab her by the arms too but Alison called them off.

"What do you say we do with him?" one of the guards asked. "Just say the words."

"I charge Prince Noel Kahn of Ravenswood with treason against Rosewood and sentence him to death by execution." Alison said, watching Noel expressionlessly.

Before the guards carried him away, he made a noise and spat at Alison. His bloody spit landed on Alison's wedding dress, staining the white fabric forever.

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_Eight months later.._

When the guests and the people of both kingdoms heard of Noel's attempt at murder Princess Emily and Queen Alison (that part they made up so people wouldn't protest. They were royalty, so no one could really argue with their claim.) The guests, who had come to see a wedding, instead left confused and saddened by Noel's turn on his kingdoms. As for Noel, he was executed like Jason was, almost reenacting a deja vu moment. Noel's execution almost mirrored Jason's, and Alison felt sick while she watched it. She didn't like the similarities at all.

Emily's gash was dressed and she was given ten stitches. Luckily, the wound healed, only leaving behind a long scar as a souvenir. The emotional damage it had on her was worse the first few weeks, and Emily stayed very timid those first couple of weeks. She only started to come back around after the first month, after much kissing and coaxing from Alison.

Both Alison and Emily had come far in the eight months that followed Noel's betrayal. Emily had turned nineteen in November, although by the then she wasn't in much mood for celebration. But now it was June, and Alison had just turned nineteen a few days before. But today was another special day, something that their hard work lead to.

"Are you ready?" Alison asked.

"I'm really nervous." Emily replied, biting her lip.

She followed Alison down the hallway, both wearing beautiful dresses, more beautiful than before. Alison was wearing a pale blue, where as Emily was in sea foam green. They walked arm and arm down the stairs, heading towards the large balcony that overlooked all the people in the square below. They hugged when they reached the doors to the large balcony that overlooked the people of Rosewood. People from all over had come to witness this, their heads craning for a better look.

The ceremony was going to begin, and Alison hadn't been more nervous for Emily in her life. They had spent months prepping for this moment, making sure that Emily knew exactly what she was supposed to do when the cues were given. Alison stepped forward and placed her hands on the railing. Emily backed off to the side, waiting for her cue.

Alison took a deep breath as the trumpets played to quiet down the onlooking people. Alison's voice was projected through a horn shaped thing, making it easy for her people to hear, and the fact she didn't have to shout so loud.

"People of Rosewood, we gather today to witness the crowning of a new ruler. Someone who will be joining me in my reign of Rosewood." Alison said, trying not fumble on her words. "We welcome her with open arms as she is coronated today."

The ceremony shifted, turning the attention to Emily, who stepped forward. She faced Alison and bowed down, something that Alison wasn't used to anymore.

"Do you, Princess Emily, promise to rule Rosewood fairly, and diligently?" the high priest of Rosewood asked.

"I promise."

"And do you promise to keep the people of Rosewood's best intentions in mind?"

"I promise."

As Emily promised about a million things, Alison couldn't help but smile slightly. Emily was wearing the same traditional coronation robes that Alison wore a little over a year ago. The white fur was said to have been from a yeti, but that was just a myth. Now, it was Emily's turn to go through what Alison did.

Once the priest was done, it was Alison's turn to take over. She stepped forwards as Emily bowed to her again. Alison watched as Emily took the staff and jar from the priest, and turned to face the people of Rosewood. Alison picked up Emily's shining crown from the next pillow, and slowly placed it on Emily's head. The priest began speaking in another language, one that Alison didn't bother to try to learn. It was the coronation seal, bonding the person to the kingdom for life.

Alison watched the back of Emily's head until the priest finished and everything was silent.

"I now pronounce you, the second Queen of Rosewood." Alison said, the words ringing out. Her heart fluttered, and she wasn't even the one being crowned this time.

There was an eruption of applause and cheers as Emily bowed her head to the people. She turned around slowly a few seconds later, beaming from ear to ear.

"We did it. Now we can be together for a long time!" Emily said, reaching out to grab Alison's hand.

Alison shook her head, but smiled at Emily. "I wouldn't say a long time...how about forever?"

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_Fine._


End file.
